Edo Election: Gov Obaseki defeats APC in certificate forgery case

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has won the certificate forgery case instituted against him by the All Progressives Congress, APC.
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Saturday dismissed the suit filed.

The preciding Justice Ahmed Mohammed who delivered judgment said that the APC failed to prove the forgery allegation beyond reasonable doubt.
He, however, did not award any cost against the plaintiffs.

The judgment which was slated for 12noon, began at about 1.20pm, when the judge began by first reviewing the testimonies for the two parties.
The APC and one of its members had dragged the Governor to court, alleging that he had submitted a fake University Ibadan certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, be eligible for the September governorship election.

Justice Mohammed fixed the judgment for Saturday (today) after lawyers to all the parties involved in the matter adopted their final addresses on 7 January.

The APC, its member, William Edobor, Governor Obaseki, the PDP, and INEC are the parties in the case.

When the matter was called on Thursday, Ken Mozia, SAN, lawyer to Obaseki informed the court that the business for the day was for parties to adopt their final written addresses.
Mozia said that he had received the plaintiffs’ 39-page final written address.

Also lawyer to INEC, M.A Bawa, prayed the court to use the arguments filed by counsel to give judgment in the matter.

“For our part, we didn’t file any process in this suit and we have consistently remained neutral.

“In the circumstance, we will be urging the court to decide the matter one way or another based on the arguments before it,” he said.
Along the same line, APC’s lawyer Akin Olujimi (SAN) adopted his written address as his final argument in the matter and urged the court to grant the claims sought by his client.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed, adjourned the matter until today to deliver judgment.

The APC and Edobor, dragged Obaseki to court for allegedly forging the University of Ibadan degree certificate, which he submitted to INEC to aid his qualification for the Sept. 19, 2020 governorship election in Edo.

Read: Edo: Again, University of Ibadan confirms Obaseki’s certificate

The plaintiffs want the court to disqualify Obaseki and his party, the PDP, from the poll, in the event that Obaseki was found to have forged his university certificate, obtained in 1979.