BREAKING: Obaseki wins as court dismisses APC’s certificate forgery Suit

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed the alleged certificate forgery suit filed against the governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed delivered the judgment on Saturday in a suit filed by the All Progressives Party (APC) and a chieftain of the party, Williams Edobor, against the governor.

The APC and Edobor had filed the suit alleging that Governor Obaseki presented a forged certificate to seek re-election in the Edo State governorship election held on September 19, 2020.

According to the plaintiffs, the said document was purportedly issued by the University of Ibadan, while the governor presented same to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which conducted the poll.

Before Justice Mohammed delivered the judgement in the suit, counsels to both parties in the matter had closed their cases after they presented witnesses and evidence to the court.

During proceedings on Thursday, lawyer to the Plaintiffs, Akin Olujimi, adopted his final written address.

He urged the court to affirm their position that the governor presented a forged certificate to the electoral umpire and was unfit to occupy the office.

This was, however, rejected by Governor Obaseki’s counsel, Ken Mozia, who asked the court to dismiss the suit over what he described as the plaintiff’s failure to prove their case.

The judgement was scheduled to commence by 12p.m., but the judge, Ahmed Mohammed, has not arrived as of 12.05p.m.

The judge, Mr Mohammed, arrives courtroom to deliver judgment at 1.10p.m.

The judge started delivering judgment at 1.20pm after lawyers announced their appearances.

The judge giving a recap of the testimonies, says the plaintiffs called six witnesses:

First plaintiffs’ witness, Edoba Omoregie, had testified that Governor Obaseki submitted false or forged certificate which he claimed to have obtained from the University of Ibadan in 1979.

Mr Omoregie, a professor, said that the certificate submitted to INEC for the purposes of the September 2020 election was without a date of issuance and signature of the registrar.

He said the certificate presented by the governor for the 2020 election was different from the one he submitted to INEC when he contested the earlier 2016 election for his first term in office.

He said Mr. Obaseki lied under oath and submitted false or forged certificate to INEC.

The second plaintiffs’ witness, Samuel Omale, an employee and legal officer of INEC, tendered Mr Obaseki’s Form EC9 submitted INEC ahead of the 2020 election.

He said he was not part of INEC team that received documents for the purposes of the election.

The plaintiffs’ fifth witness, Gabriel Iduseri, who said he graduated from the University of Ibadan and obtained Bachelors of Arts in Classical Studies in 1976.

He insisted that Mr Obaseki gave false information in his Form EC9 where he claimed to have graduated from UI in 1979.

He said Mr Obaseki tendered an equivalent of the certificate in 2016 but completely different from the one he tendered in 2020.

He said with only three credit passes in Geography, History and Religious Knowledge, Mr Obaseki would not have qualified to be admitted into UI in 1976 whether through direct or indirect entry.

The plaintiffs’ sixth witness, Mikailu Asekome, said he gained admission to UI to study Agricultural Economics in 1974 and graduated in 1978.

He said it was not possible to be admitted to UI without five credits.

He said his own certificate he obtained from UI was signed by the university registrar and the Vice-Chancellor.

Mr Obaseki called three witnesses.

His first witness, Charity Aiguobarue, said he was the one who made the photocopy of the governor’s credentials attached to Form EC9 sumbitted to INEC last year.

He said he did not forge or falsify the documents. He said the form EC9 did not contain false information.

He said the absence of the the logo and signature of the registrar were cut off from the photocopy of Mr Obaseki’s UI certificate was “ostensibly because the size of the certificate was bigger than the A4 paper on which the photocopy was made”.

Mr Obaseki’s second witness was Abayomi Ajayi, the Deputy Registrar, Legal of the University of Ibadan.

He confirmed that Mr Obaseki was duly admitted into UI in 1976 to study Classics, later renamed Classical Studies in 1979.

He said Mr Obaseki was admitted as direct entry in 1976.

He said Mr Obaseki met the admission requirements despite the absence of credit in English Language in the governor’s result.

He said the governor duly graduated in 1979 and was duly awarded Bachelor’s of Arts in Classical Studies in 1979.

He said the incomplete signature of the VC on Mr Obaseki’s photocopy of the certificate and the absence of logo and the registrar’s signature from the photocopy was because the certificate was bigger than the size of the paper used for the photocopy.

Mr Obaseki’s third witnesswas Eghosa Osaghae, a professor of Comparative Politics from the University of Ibadan.

He confirmed that he was Mr Obaseki’s mate in secondary school. He also said he gained admission into UI along with the governor in 1976.

He confirmed that the governor duly graduated in 1979.

The judge has started reviewing the evidence.

The judge holds that “the evidence of the plaintiffs is at variance with their allegations”.

The judge says:

“Allegation of forgery borders on crime which must be proved beyond reasonable doubt.

“In the instant case, no iota of evidence talk-less of a proof beyond reasonable doubt was brought to prove the allegation of forgery against the first defendant (Mr Obaseki)”.

“Having thoroughly analysed the evidence of this case, it is the conclusion of this court that plaintiff did not forge his O’Level Certificate, his HSC certificate, and particularly his University of Ibadan degree certificate.

“Accordingly the plaintiffs’ case is dismissed.”

A Dramatic Switch, Yet Same Result

Governor Obaseki contested and won the governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in a bid to extend his stay in office by another four years.

Although he was elected into office for the first term on the APC platform, the governor later defected from the party after he was screened out from the party’s primary which saw Mr Osagie Ize-Iyamu emerging as the APC flagbearer for the election.

This came in the middle of a lingered dispute between the governor and his predecessor and immediate past APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.

After defecting from the APC, he got the PDP’s ticket and went ahead to defeat Ize-Iyamu for the second time to claim the governorship seat in what can be described as a dramatic switch of political parties.

Governor Obaseki had defeated Ize-Iyamu as the APC candidate in the 2016 governorship election while the latter was the PDP candidate.

Four years later, he secured 307,955 of the total votes, 84,336 more votes than Ize-Iyamu who got 223, 619 votes.

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