Certificate Forgery: Court admits Obaseki’s original certificates as evidence

Following the certificate forgery suit instituted against Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its chieftain Williams Edobor, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Tuesday, has admitted the original certificates of the governor as evidence.

The APC had in the suit jointly filed with one of its members in Edo, Mr. Williams Edobor, alleged that Obaseki forged the University of Ibadan degree certificate he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in aid of his qualification for the election.

In the suit marked FHC/B/CS/74/2020, the Plaintiffs equally alleged that there were discrepancies in the subjects that Obaseki claimed he passed in his West African Examination Council (WAEC) exam and subjects in his testimonial.

Presiding judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed admitted the documents as exhibits while the defendants 1st witness Charity Aguobawekhina attested to their originality.

The documents admitted are his primary schools leaving certificate of 1971, Ordinary level certificate of 1973 and higher school certificate 1976.

Other documents admitted are Governor Obaseki’s Bachelor of Art degree certificate issued by the University of Ibadan in 1979 and Master’s degree certificate issued to him by the Pace University, New York in 1994.

Counsel to the plaintiffs Akin Olujimi had raised an objection to the primary school certificate and original copy of his certificate from the University of Ibadan.

He said the documents were on front loaded and all arguments in respect to the objections raised will be taken to the final written address.

On Monday, January 4, two University Professors who graduated at the University of Ibadan along with the Governor, Emmanuel Dele Balogun and Maikano Asekomhe have testified against him.

The Professors tendered exhibits, which include their original Degree Certificates to court.

The Professors, who graduated at the University of Ibadan along with the Governor, submitted the certificates for the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Monday to compare and contrast in order to arrive at a just conclusion in the suit.

While Balogun graduated from the Agricultural Economics Department in 1979, the same year Obaseki claimed to have also graduated, Asekomhe graduated studied Banking and Finance in the same school and graduated in 1978.

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