Alleged certificate forgery: Obaseki knows fate Saturday

By Eric Ikhilae, AbujaA Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled its judgment at noon on Saturday in the alleged certificate forgery case filed against Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a member of the party, Edobor Williams.Justice Ahmed Mohammed chose the time and date yesterday after lawyers to the parties adopted their final written addresses.Lawyers to Obaseki (first defendant), Ken Mozia (SAN) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)the second defendantRazaq Isenalumhe, after adopting the their final written addresses, urged the court to dismiss the suit.While Mozia also urged the court to hold that the plaintiffs failed to prove their case, Isenalumhe also prayed the court to award substantial cost against the plaintiffs.Lawyer to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Murktar Bawa, said: We did not file any process in this suit and we have consistently remained neutral.We urge the court to decide the case one way or the other in accordance with the processes before the court.Read Also; Courts give conflicting judgments on Ize-Iyamu, running mateIn the suit, the plaintiffs want the court to, among others, disqualify Obaseki as candidate of the PDP in the September 19, 2020 governorship election in Edo State.They alleged that the governor forged his first degree certificate, which he claimed to have obtained from the University of Ibadan (UI) in 1979 and which he submitted to INEC as part of his educational qualification.The plaintiffs claimed that a photocopy of the degree certificate attached to the nomination form Obaseki submitted to INEC did not contain the signature of the Registrar of the university and the date the certificate was issued.But Obaseki explained that the Registrars signature and the date of issue were cut off from the photocopies of his certificate submitted to INEC because the person who made the photocopy used a smaller size paper, an A4, which was smaller than the size of the original certificate.The plaintiffs called six witnesses and tendered some documents to support their case, while Obaseki called three witnesses to support his case.
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