Court dismisses certificate forgery case against Obaseki

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Saturday declared certificates presented by Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State for the 2020 governorship election as genuine.

It dismissed the alleged certificate forgery case brought against the governor by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and one of its members, Edobor Williams.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed, in his judgment held that the plaintiffs failed to prove their claim that Obaseki forged the academic certificates he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the last governorship election in the state.

The judge described as lazy the attitude of the plaintiffs, who made no efforts to cross-check with the University of Ibadan (UI) and the West African Examination Council (WAEC), the two institutions that issued the certificates they claimed were forged by Obaseki.

Lawyers to Obaseki (first defendant), Ken Mozia (SAN) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – the second defendant – Razaq Isenalumhe, after adopting the their final written addresses, had earlier urged the court to dismiss the suit.

While Mozia also urged the court to hold that the plaintiffs failed to prove their case, Isenalumhe also prayed the court to award substantial cost against the plaintiffs.

Lawyer to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Murktar Bawa, also said they did not file any process in the suit, adding that they had consistently remained neutral.

“We urge the court to decide the case one way or the other in accordance with the processes before the court.”

In the suit, the plaintiffs wanted the court to, among others, disqualify Obaseki as candidate of the PDP in the September 19, 2020 governorship election in Edo State.

They alleged that the governor forged his first degree certificate, which he claimed to have obtained from the University of Ibadan (UI) in 1979 and which he submitted to INEC as part of his educational qualification.

The plaintiffs claimed that a photocopy of the degree certificate attached to the nomination form Obaseki submitted to INEC did not contain the signature of the Registrar of the university and the date the certificate was issued.

But Obaseki explained that the Registrar’s signature and the date of issue were cut off from the photocopies of his certificate submitted to INEC because the person who made the photocopy used a smaller size paper, an A4, which was smaller than the size of the original certificate.

The plaintiffs called six witnesses and tendered some documents to support their case, while Obaseki called three witnesses to support his case.