BREAKING: Court Dismisses APC’s Certificate Forgery Suit Against Obaseki

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.

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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.

Delivering judgment on the suit, Justice Ahmed Mohammed says the plaintiffs relied on the photocopied certificate presented by Governor Obaseki without getting in touch with the University of Ibadan to verify the authenticity of the said certificate.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed added that no iota of truth was brought before the court by the plaintiffs who alleged forgery which is a criminal matter yet unable to prove their case.

The Court insisted that the Deputy Registrar, Legal of the University of Ibadan had given evidence in the suit that the University duly issued the certificate to Mister Godwin Obaseki

Adding that Godwin Obaseki was duly and properly admitted to study Classics and later renamed Classical Studies in 1976 and graduated in 1979

The court concluded that the plaintiffs failed to prove their allegations of forgery against Godwin Obaseki and there is no other as to cost.