The National Vice Chairman of the Labour Party in the South-West, Comrade Abayomi Arabambi, has alleged that Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate Peter Obi presented conflicting names across his WAEC result, university certificate and NYSC discharge papers.
He described the discrepancies as evidence of what he called multiple identities. He insisted the matter was serious enough to warrant Obi’s withdrawal from the 2027 presidential race.
Speaking during an exclusive interview on Eagle 102.5 FM’s Frontline programme on Monday, Arabambi said his claims were not speculative but drawn from his direct involvement in the Labour Party’s 2022 presidential primary in Asaba, Delta State. He said he personally interacted with Obi at the point of documentation. He maintained that it was only after later disputes within the party that the full picture of the alleged discrepancies became clear to him.
He recalled that on the day of the primary, Obi arrived at the venue while Arabambi was mobilising support for a different aspirant, Oluwadare Fabiyi Joseph. According to him, the process was disrupted by Obi’s entry, and the party leadership intervened to ensure the primary proceeded with Obi as the sole candidate. He said this was the beginning of the sequence of events that led him to question Obi’s documentation.
He stated, “I was not aware. I was not privy. Because that day, I had my own candidate Oluwadare Fabiyi Joseph, who mobilizes, our members from all over the state, delegate all over the state to Delta then, in Asaba.”
Arabambi said the party’s then National Chairman, Julius Abure, personally asked him to persuade his own candidate to step aside so that the primary could go ahead. He said this request placed him directly at the centre of the process that produced Obi’s candidacy. He maintained that he complied with the chairman’s request despite his reservations.
He said, “The chairman, you know Julius Abure compelled me to plead, you know, with that guy, with that candidate, which we did. And we started that primary, I think, around four.”
According to Arabambi, he was present when Obi filled out his INEC candidate form shortly after emerging as the party’s flagbearer. He said he asked Obi directly whether he possessed any academic qualification beyond his WAEC result. He claimed Obi’s answer at the time was an unambiguous no.
He said, “I remember asking him a question, do you have any other certificate? He said no. I said, no problem.”
Arabambi said Obi went on to tell him he had attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, completed the National Youth Service Corps, and held a First Leaving Certificate. He said no further documentation was produced at that stage. He maintained that this exchange took place in Abuja shortly after the primary.
He stated, “When we got Abuja? Yeah, he said he attended University of Nigeria at Nsukka, you know, his NYSC, First Leaving Certificate. All the rest, I don’t know. But that was it.”
Arabambi said the matter resurfaced during post-election tribunal proceedings, at a point when questions about President Bola Tinubu’s own academic history had become a major national controversy. He said he pressed Obi at the time to submit his certificates formally to INEC rather than withholding them. He claimed Obi deflected the request until they were both in Abuja.
He said, “Why can’t you give us your certificate? Let us attach and submit to INEC. He said, when you get to Abuja, when we go to Abuja, you will be subject to him here.”
According to Arabambi, the certificates were eventually submitted, but a later internal crisis within the Labour Party changed the dynamic entirely. He alleged that associates close to Obi began supplying information that cast doubt on the authenticity of his academic record. He said this was how the alleged inconsistencies first came to his attention in detail.
He said, “So, we submitted it, this is school cert, this is WAEC… His own people started giving us information concerning him. His own people started giving us information concerning him.”
Arabambi’s central allegation concerns what he said is a discrepancy between the name Obi wrote on his INEC candidate form and the name printed on his WAEC certificate. He claimed the INEC form, filled in Obi’s own handwriting, listed him as “Peter Gregory Obi.” He said the WAEC certificate submitted separately carried no reference to the name “Peter” at all.
He said, “He said his name, surname in bloc letter, OBI, other name in block letter, PETER GREGORY, that’s the word he wrote there, that’s page two of that particular candidate form… I, Peter Gregory.”
Arabambi described the disappearance of “Peter” from the WAEC certificate as the first of what he called several unexplained changes in Obi’s documented identity. He said the WAEC certificate instead listed the name as “Obi Gregory Onwubuasi.” He repeated a phrase describing this discrepancy several times through the interview.
He said, “In the WAEC, in his WAEC, that he submitted, he claimed his name is Obi Gregory Onwubuasi, Peter has disappeared back to heaven, Peter, he has disappeared back to heaven.”
He went on to allege that Obi’s university certificate from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka introduces yet another version of the name, this time reinserting “Peter” in a different position within the full name string. He argued that under Nigerian legal practice, the order and composition of a person’s names carry legal significance and cannot be treated as interchangeable.
He said, “The University of Nigeria in Nsukka Certificate, he named that, Gregory, Peter has come back from Heaven, again to the Certificate, Onwubuasi, Obi, that’s the name of the University… in the WAEC, he said the same name, Obi, Gregory, Onwubuasi, Obi, now, in the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, his name now became Gregory, Peter, Onwubuasi, Obi.”
Arabambi argued that a change in the order of a person’s names is not a trivial matter in law, drawing a comparison to illustrate his point. He maintained that two differently ordered versions of the same set of names could be treated as referring to different legal identities. He said this was the basis for his broader argument.
He said, “In law, let me be very frank, Anthony Oluwaniyi, Dawood, he is different from Oluwaniyi Anthony Dawood, it is different, are you getting me, he is different.”
He also raised a question about the academic requirements Obi would have needed to meet to gain admission into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka to study Philosophy. He claimed the standard requirement at the time was five credits including English and Mathematics. He alleged Obi’s WAEC result fell short of that standard.
He said, “For you to study Philosophy… you must have English and Maths, credit in their mind, it is five credits, including English and Mathematics, but Obi successfully enter University with, passed in English, passed in Mathematics, and two other credits, so this is the second time Peter Obi will perform a miracle.”
Arabambi further questioned the date printed on Obi’s university certificate, noting that it was issued on the 15th of December, 1984, a date he said fell on a Saturday. He suggested it was unusual for a university registrar’s office to issue certificates on a weekend. He offered this as a further point requiring explanation.
