CERTIFICATE FORGERY: Another Buhari’s appointee denies being pressured to resign

An appointee of President Muhammadu Buhari, Okoi Obono-Obla, who is accused of forging his Ordinary Level result, has denied that pressure is being mounted on him to resign his position.

Obono-Obla is the chairman, Special Presidential Investigation Panel on the Recovery of Public Property. He argued that there was no such thing as pressure on him to resign his appointment and described the report as “false, baseless and wicked”.

The senior special assistant to President Buhari said in Lagos on Thursday that the matter in question that necessitated the report was in court.

The House of Representatives ad hoc Panel, had claimed that its findings, in the course of its primary assignment, showed that Obono-Obla is parading an “invalid” Ordinary Level result.

The panel said it found out that the aide to the President might have forged his way into the University of Jos where he studied and subsequently proceeded to the Nigerian Law School.

But responding to the claim that he was under pressure to resign over the scandal, Obono-Obla accused some people of being after him for daring to investigate and expose assets hidden abroad by some powerful people in the National Assembly.

He said, “The matter is in the Federal High Court, Abuja. It was filed since June 2018 and the House of Representatives Committee was duly served but they ignored the matter and went ahead to procure false witnesses to give evidence behind me.

“This is contrary to the Rules of the House of Representatives that says if a matter is in court it should be stayed pending its determination. Is the House of Representatives a court of law? The answer is No! Is the House of Representatives, constitutionally empowered to investigate forgery or crime? The answer is No.

“Even though the matter is in court the committee hastily and hurriedly turned the report to the media in July 2018. This was also done when the House was on recess without even waiting for it to be tabled before the House.

READ ALSO: With the dust of #Adeosungate yet to settle, another Buhari minister enmeshed in NYSC scandal

“It is a hatchet job done to witch-hunt, harass, intimidate, ridicule and scandalise me because I dared to investigate and expose assets hidden abroad by some powerful people in the National Assembly,” he said in a statement by his Media Officer, Emmanuel Nwachukwu.”

Mrs. Kemi Adeosun had only recently resigned her position as the Minister of Finance under President Buhari’s government following allegation that she forged the exemption certificate of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Currently, another appointee in President Buhari’s cabinet, Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, is being accused of failing to participate in the NYSC scheme despite graduating from the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) at the age of 25.

 

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