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Court Delivers Judgement On Obaseki’s Certificate Forgery Case
Court has delivered judgement on Obaseki’s certificate forgery case.
NewsOne Nigeria reports that the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital on Saturday, January 9, 2021, dismissed the certificate forgery case the All Progressives Congress, APC, and one its members, Mr. Williams Edobor, instituted against Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State.
In a judgement that was delivered by Justice Ahmed Mohammed, the court held that the Plaintiffs, failed to by way of credible evidence, discharge the burden of proof placed on them by the law.
The presiding judge said there was no iota of evidence before the court to establish that Obaseki forged either his O’level certificate or the degree certificate that was awarded to him in 1979 by the University of Ibadan.
Justice Mohammed held that allegation of forgery the Plaintiffs levelled against Obaseki bordered on crime and therefore required to be proved beyond reasonable doubt.
“None of the witnesses called by the Plaintiffs was able to prove that the certificate as forged.
“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 court noted.
It held that apparent discrepancies in the documents Obaseki submitted to INEC, “were satisfactorily explained”.