…Court fixes judgment for 12 noon

A Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled judgement for Saturday at 12noon in the alleged certificate forgery case brought against Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a member of the party, Edobor Williams.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed chose the time and date on Thursday after lawyers to parties adopted their final written addresses.

Lawyers to Obaseki (named as the first defendant), Ken Mozia (SAN) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) – the second defendant – Razaq Isenalumhe, after adopting their final written addresses, urged the court to dismiss the suit.

While Mozia also urged the court to hold that the plaintiff failed woefully to prove their case, Isenalumhe equally further prayed the court to award substantial cost against the plaintiffs.

Lawyer to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Murktar Bawa said: “We did not file any process in this suit and has consistently remained neutral.

“We urge the court to decide the case one way or the other in accordance with the processes before the court.”

In the suit marked: FHC/B/CS/74/2020, the plaintiffs want the court to, among others; disqualify Obaseki as the candidate of the PDP in the last governorship election in Edo State.

They alleged that the governor forged his first-degree certificate; he claimed to have obtained it from the University of Ibadan (UI) in 1979 and which he submitted to INEC as part of his educational qualification.

The plaintiffs claimed that a photocopy of the degree certificate attached to the nomination form Obaseki submitted to INEC did not contain the signature of the Registrar of the university and the date the certificate was issued.

But, Obaseki explained that the Registrar’s signature and the date of the issue were cut off from the photocopies of his certificate submitted to INEC because the person, who made the photocopy, used a smaller size paper, an A4 paper, which was smaller than the size of the original certificate.

The plaintiffs called six witnesses in all, and tendered documents in support of their case, while Obaseki called three witnesses to support his case.

The PDP and INEC did not call any witnesses.