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General News of Saturday, 29 May 2021

Source: www.sunnewsonline.com

Supreme Court dismisses certificate forgery case against Obaseki

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state

The Supreme Court on Friday struck out Osagie Ize-Iyamu’s of the All Progressives Congress (APC) appeal challenging the election of Gov. Godwin Obaseki in the 2020 governorship election in Edo State.

The apex court in a judgement delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim held that the appeal failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

“The appellants failed woefully to prove their case, they did not provide any disclaimer from the school that the result was not issued by them to Obaseki.

“This court agrees with the lower courts completely, that the appellants did not meet sufficient requirement to prove their case”.

The Supreme Court, therefore, awarded a cost of one million nairas in favour of Gov. Obaseki.

The appeal court in Abuja had dismissed the suit challenging Obaseki’s certificates on March 18.

The appeal was filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) against the January 9, the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja affirming the authenticity of the academic certificates presented by Obaseki.

The three-man panel of the court, led by Justice Stephen Adah, unanimously upheld the argument by Obaseki’s legal team, led by Ken Mozia (SAN) that the APC appeal and one of its members were without merit.

The appellant court held that the Federal High Court, in its judgment by Justice Ahmed Mohammed, was right to have held that the party failed to prove its claim that Obaseki presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to contest the last governorship election in Edo State.