Federal High Court Dismisses Certificate Forgery Case Against Obaseki.

                    Mr. Godwin Obaseki

                     Governor, Edo State.

By Lucky Isibor.

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Saturday, dismissed the certificate forgery case brought against Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State by the All Progressives Congress, APC, and one of  its members, Mr. Williams Edobor.

The court, in a judgement that was delivered by the presiding judge, Hon. Justice Ahmed Mohammed, held that the Plaintiffs, failed to by way of credible evidence, discharge the burden of proof placed on them by the law.

Justice Mohammed said there was no iota of evidence before the court to establish that Obaseki forged either his O’level certificate, HSC certificate or the degree certificate that was awarded to him in 1979 by the University of Ibadan.

“None of the witnesses called by the Plaintiffs was able to prove that the certificate is forged.

“In fact, the witnesses admitted that none of them visited the University of Ibadan to confirm the authenticity of the certificate.

“The Plaintiffs only relied on photocopies that were attached to the Form EC9 the 1st Defendant submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission”, the court noted.

It held that apparent discrepancies in the documents Obaseki submitted to INEC, “were satisfactorily explained”.

According to the judge: “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 the first defendant did not forge his O’Level Certificate, his HSC certificate, and particularly his University of Ibadan degree certificate.

“Accordingly, the plaintiffs’ case is dismissed.”