Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday ordered the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, to open his defence in the alleged certificate forgery case on January 5.

The judge stated this after the All Progressives Congress (APC) closed its case on the matter.

The party had called six witnesses to testify against the governor.

The APC and one of its chieftains, Mr. Williams Edobor, had accused Obaseki of forging his certificate obtained from the University of Ibadan.

The plaintiffs said the governor submitted the certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of last year’s governorship election in Edo State.

Other defendants in the suit are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and INEC.

Two of the witnesses – Mr. Gabriel Iduseri and Mr. Maikano Asekomhe – had claimed that Obaseki forged his certificate because of alleged discrepancies in the Certified True Copies (CTC) obtained from INEC.

Iduseri, however, admitted that he had never seen Obaseki’s original degree certificate.

The APC had in July last year disqualified the governor from participating in its governorship primaries over alleged discrepancies in his certificate.

He later joined the PDP and secured the party’s governorship ticket for the election.

Obaseki was re-elected for another term of four-year after he defeated the APC candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, in the election held on September 19 last year.