Court admits Obaseki’s certificates as evidence in forgery case

The original certificates of Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki was on Tuesday admitted as evidence in his alleged forgery case by an Abuja Federal High Court.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and its chieftain, Mr Williams Edobor, accused Obaseki of parading a forged certificate and dragged him to the court presided over by Justice Ahmed Mohammed.

When the matter came up on Tuesday, the presiding judge admitted Obaseki’s First School Leaving Certificate obtained in 1971, his Ordinary Level Certificate obtained in 1973, and his Higher School Certificate obtained in 1976 as evidence.

Also admitted by the court as evidence include Obaseki’s Bachelor of Arts Degree Certificate issued by the University of Ibadan in 1979 and a Master’s Degree Certificate issued to him by the Pace University in New York, the United States in 1994.

The defendant’s first witness, Charity Aguobawekhina, was in court to attest to the originality of the documents.

READ ALSO: Obaseki to open defence in alleged certificate forgery case January 5

The APC had earlier on Monday closed its case against Governor Obaseki after its counsel, Akin Olujimi, cross-examined an expert witness, Raphael Onwuzuligbo, who is a retired Assistant Superintendent of Police and a forensic document examiner.

Onwuzuligbo had told the court that the University of Ibadan’s logo on the governor’s certificate appeared to have been compromised.

He also said that the signature of the Vice-Chancellor of the university was missing from the certificate not because the document was poorly scanned but that it was truly missing.

Olujimi had submitted that the witness’ testimony further proved their allegation against Obaseki.

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