What is the true identity of the man the now deregistered Liberation Movement (LM) presented as its flagbearer in the February 2020 governorship election in Bayelsa State? Is his name Ikurete Inowei, Ikurite Elored Inowei, Vijah Inowei Eldred Opuama, Ikuritei Eldred Inowei, or Vijah Eldred Opuama?
Pointblanknews.com is in possession of several documents tendered before the Bayelsa State Governorship Elections Tribunal sitting in Abuja which revealed that in seeking to govern Bayelsa State, the LM candidate presented documents with six conflicting names.
The documents include a First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC) examination entry form, a Senior School Certificate, tax clearance certificate, and an Incorporation of Business Name certificate issued by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
The others are a “Change of Name Certificate” issued in Queensland, Australia, Bayelsa State Income Tax Clearance Certificate, Liberation Movement membership confirmation form, and an Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) form CF001.
Shortly after the February 2020 Bayelsa governorship election, a certain Vijah Opuama caused a legal stir by accusing the State Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo of forging his National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) exemption certificate.
The allegation caused an Abuja Area court to order the Department of State Security (DSS) to investigate Opuama’s claim. A letter from NYSC has since cleared the air, with the Corps assuming responsibility for effecting the correction on Ewhrudjakpo’s exemption certificate.
According to NYSC, following the Deputy Governor’s complaint that his surname was misspelled, it changed Ewhruojakpa to Ewhrudjakpo, stressing that was “a minor error.”
Meanwhile, in what appears to be the case of the hunter becoming the hunted, the Bayelsa State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has begun to unmask the LM candidate.
The party believes Vijah Opuama is one of the impostors sponsored by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, to unseat Governor Duoye Diri and his Deputy, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo.
Documents before the tribunal revealed that in the LM candidate’s INEC Form CF001 dated September 9, 2019, his name was spelt Opuama, Vijah Eldred, and that he was 38 years old at the time.
However, according to a copy of a handwritten “entry form/marks sheet’ purportedly issued in 1993 by the Rivers State Ministry of Education and presented by the governorship candidate bore the name Ikurete Inowei.
Curiously, only three subjects – Arithmetic, English and General Knowledge – were listed. More curious was that no scores or grades were entered for Ikurete – or for any of the 24 other names listed on the “entry form/marks sheet” tendered by the LM governorship candidate as his “First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC).”
Quizzed a chieftain of his party, “Isn’t it curious that there was no FSLC? What he presented was an examination entry form which was handwritten. No school in Nigeria – no matter how remote – issues a handwritten result. Moreover, FSLC is personal. It shouldn’t bear a list of candidates. Also, no scores were attached to subjects purportedly written. All genuine pupils have their scores attached. Our candidate had no scores in English, Arithmetic, and General Knowledge, yet he claimed it was an FSLC.
“Let it also be on record that it is impossible for an entry form which indicated the number of candidates who sat for a particular examination be a substitute for a certificate. As we speak, no FSLC has been tendered, 27 years after, our candidate purportedly sat for his FSLC”, he added.
A certified true copy of the candidate’s Senior School Certificate supposedly issued in June 2001, and attached to his INEC Form CF001, revealed that between 1993 and 2001, the candidate added “Elored” to his name. His surname changed from Ikurete to Ikurite, changing his full name from Ikurete Inowei to Ikurite Elored Inowei.
Pointblanknews.com investigations revealed that in 2009, the candidate travelled to Australia under the name Eldred Inowei Ikurute. Family sources told Pointblanknews.com that it was whilst in Queensland, Australia that he, once again, changed his name to Vijah Eldred Opuama.
A “‘Change of Name Certificate” purportedly issued by the State of Queensland, Australia, dated September 9, 2011, and with registration number 20/11/1393, indicated that the LP candidate changed his name from Eldred Inowei Ikurute to Vijah Eldred Opuama.
According to those family members, Ikurete changed his name to Vijah Eldred Opuama, his father in-law’s name, to enable him use the man’s certificates to further his studies in Australia. Unfortunately for him, he was nabbed by the Australian authorities and deported back to Nigeria.
A secondary school classmate of the LM candidate expressed surprise that his former classmate changed names in Australia.
“I was shocked that Inowei changed his name. He was born here in Nigeria. Old Rivers State to be precise. We schooled together here until he said he was travelling to Australia to further his studies. The next thing we heard was that he changed his name, tried to falsify some documents, was caught and deported.
“Upon his return to Nigeria, Inowei resorted to petty business. Thereafter, a friend introduced him to one local politician for whom he began running errands. It was whilst running one of such errands that he met Chief Timipre Sylva. It was the Minister who sponsored and financed him to contest the February 2020 Bayelsa governorship election,” added the source.
In his Liberation Movement membership confirmation form dated Tuesday August 27, 2019, the candidate’s name again changed from Vijah Eldred Opuama to Vijah Inowei Eldred Opuama.
However, less than two weeks after completing his party form as Vijah Inowei Eldred Opuama, exactly on September 9, 2020, the LM candidate obtained his income tax clearance certificate from the Bayelsa State Board of Internal Revenue. The certificate bore the name name Vijah Opuama.
On the same day, he applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to register Vocals PR Services as a business name. In his application form, Ikurete listed his surname as Opuama, and Vijah Eldred as “other names”.
Some LM chieftains expressed worry that, 27 years after primary school, Vijah Opuama cannot still present a primary school leaving certificate. “A handwritten entry format sheet that had scores is what he has, clearly showing that he had no primary school leaving certificate, the basic certificate for any person in life”, noted a party official.
“When we raised the issue, we were asked to ‘keep quiet’. He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. When he accused Deputy Governor Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo of forging his NYSC exemption certificate, the deputy Governor waived his immunity and publicly presented his certificate.
“Expectedly, Vijah Opuama, who raised the allegation should produce his First School Leaving Certificate. Failure to do so, anybody can be compelled by that to write the Inspector General of Police to investigate this clear forgery he’s parading as a FSLC,” noted the party official.
He added, “We cannot be making false allegations against such a big party like the PDP, but in our own small party be presenting persons with forged documents”.
Pointblanknews gathered that should the allegation of forgery against Opuama be established, he might end up the sacrificial lamb on the very treacherous political turf in Bayelsa State.
Already, certain Liberation Movement chieftains are at daggers drawn with him over his reported failure to “carry them along” in sharing the huge sums of money allegedly handed him by Sylva, Otita Force and a former deputy Governor, to prosecute “Operation Unseat Diri and Ewhrudjakpo”.