A Nigerian court has dismissed a certificate forgery case against the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki.
The suit was filed at the federal high court in the nation’s capital Abuja governing All Progressives Congress (APC) and one Williams Edobor, a chieftain of the party, who had accused the governor of forging the first degree certificate he submitted to the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to enable him contest the governorship election.
The governor had denied the allegations of forgery and insisted that his certificate was gotten from the University of Ibadan.
Abayomi Ajayi, an official of the legal unit of the University of Ibadan, who was summoned to testify as a defence witness told the court that the institution issued a Bachelor of Arts certificate to Obaseki in 1979.
Ajayi said the university carried out different demonstrations which revealed that some part of the certificate was cut off, owing to the size of paper that was used.
In delivering his judgement on Saturday, Ahmed Mohammed, the judge, held that the plaintiffs, failed to put credible evidence before the court in proof of their case.
“None of the witnesses called by the plaintiffs was able to prove that the certificate was forged,” he said.
“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 judge consequently dismissed the suit.
By Abel Ejikeme