Court Arraigns Three Men for Alleged Forgery of Identity Card in Ekiti

Three men were brought before a magistrates’ court in Ado-Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State, on Thursday for allegedly forging an identity card with the signature of the registrar of the Federal Polytechnic Satellite Campus in Ado-Ekiti.

The defendants, Onibonoje Timileyin (27), Bello Tumise (16) and Ahmed Olasunkanmi (29), whose addresses were not given, pleaded not guilty to the charge of forgery.

The police prosecutor, Inspector Olumide Bamigbade, told the court that the defendants committed the offence on May 11 at about 8:00 am at the polytechnic campus.

Bamigbade said that the defendants conspired among themselves and forged an identity card with the name of one Oluwaseun Oluwasegun as a student of the institution.

He said that the offence contravened Section 374 of the Criminal Laws of Ekiti State 2021.

He asked the court to adjourn the case to enable him to study the case file and assemble his witnesses.

The defence counsel, Mr Gbenga Ariyibi and Mr Ade Ademola, applied for bail for their clients, promising that they would not jump bail.

The magistrate, Mrs Olubunmi Bamidele, granted bail to the defendants in the sum of N50,000 each with one surety each in like sum.

She adjourned the case till June 22 for a hearing.

Forgery is a serious crime in Nigeria that attracts severe penalties. According to a report by The Conversation, a rise in court cases is bad for democracy in Nigeria as it reflects a lack of trust in institutions and processes.

The report also states that court cases are often used as tools of political manipulation and intimidation by powerful actors who seek to undermine their opponents or influence electoral outcomes.

A blog post by LawCare Nigeria, a platform that provides Nigerian law reports, states that forgery is an offence against public justice and morality2. It says that forgery involves making false documents or altering genuine ones with the intent to deceive or defraud.

The blog post also explains that forgery can be committed by any person who makes, signs, seals, or executes any document or part of it with intent to cause it to be believed that such document was made by another person or authority.

The case of the three men accused of forging an identity card is therefore one of the many examples of how forgery is perpetrated and prosecuted in Nigeria. It also shows how the courts are handling such cases and dispensing justice according to the law.

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