Nigeria: A Shameless Nation of Forgers

KWENU! Our culture, our future

UBA AHAM

Enugu, Nigeria

Friday, May 9, 2008

In fact, Nigeria is presently faced with a particularly gnawing problem. On a daily basis at the on-going election petition tribunals, discoveries abound that elected officials of government are parading fake school certificates, ranging from those of secondary to tertiary institutions. And, the situation becomes more worrisome when it is realized that these fakes, nay elected and appointed officials of government, are supposed to be protectors of the law which they turn round to dutifully flout.

For instance, Honourable Agboola Alfred Ajayi, member of House of Representatives from Ondo state, just had his election canceled by an election tribunal sitting in Akure, the state’s capital, for reasons related to certificate forgery. Since after his controversial election in April last year, Ajayi, representing Ilaje Ese-Odo constituency on the platform of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has been dogged with allegations of certificate forgery involving hiring mercenaries to write his school certificate examination. Certificates Ajayi presented at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for his screening and clearance shows that his age, which he gave as 38, did not, among other things, tally with that of the individual named in the records of West African Examination Council (WAEC). The suspected mercenary’s age of birth as contained in the records Ajayi lodged with INEC is 1980 and not 1970 as he claimed.

And apart from annulling the Rep’s election, the tribunal equally disqualified him from participating in future elections that may be conducted as a result of the ruling.

Yet, another Rep, Juliet Akano representing Nwangele-Nkwere-Isu-Njaba federal constituency of Imo state, is in the eye of the storm over certificate fraud. Akano had, also, in completing her own INEC nomination form for last general elections reportedly declared that she attended Oguta Girls’ High School, Oguta, Imo State from 1979-1984. But shockingly, the principal of the school, when prodded by investigators, disclosed that there was no such name or record tallying with the date claimed by the Rep. Akano. Even the law maker’s supposed maiden name as at the time (assuming she was still unmarried), Obasi Juliet Nnenne, was not found in the school’s record.

Rep. Akano’s crooked story is akin to that of Ajayi, as she was, also, alleged to have engaged a lady mercenary in 1998 to take secondary school certificate examination for her as a Private candidate. The photo card for the examination is said to bear the picture of the lady mercenary while the name on it is that of Akano Juliet Nnenne. Again, the mercenary’s signature conflicts with the signature Rep. Akano used in the submission of her INEC forms for her election.

Of course, Eugene Okoma, one of Akano’s traducers, last year, November 14, petitioned the leadership of the national assembly, copying the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the State Security Services (SSS), as well as the INEC and the Federal Ministry of Justice, accusing her of using another person’s certificate to get clearance for her House of Representatives election. Okoma, also, accused the embattled legislator of similarly forging the certificate with which she gained admission into the university for her a degree in marketing.

The certificate fraud story of Emmanuel Uchieze, representing Awka North and South federal constituency in Anambra state, is also, no news. Uchieze, in his own case, did not even allegedly attend primary school, and was said to have, as a result, forged his first school leaving certificate. Uchieze, as well, allegedly falsified his INEC qualifications sheet of the PDP Expression of Interest for his own election. The Rep, according to his accusers at the Anambra state Election Petition Tribunal in Awka, forged his secondary school certificate like his above mentioned colleagues in law making. Uchieze’s case seems striking, as he was recently detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Enugu [February 2008] together with the principal of Vintage College, a post primary school which he claimed to have attended in Lagos.

There is no argument that the list of forger honourables in Nigeria is endless. It must be pointed out that the spate of forgeries across the country is not restricted to members of various levels of the legislature.

At the moment, Okey Ezea, governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Enugu state in the last general elections, is standing trial for the offence of forging INEC’s documents before an Enugu high court, presided over by Innocent Umezurike, the state’s Chief Judge.

Also, Mathias Anike, Chairman of Enugu East Local Government Area, has become a regular visitor to the office of the EFCC located in Enugu following allegations bordering on his having forged his academic certificates with which he served as senior legislative aide to Gilbert Nnaji, former deputy speaker of the Federal House of Representatives from 2003 to 2007. The alleged forged documents by Anike include a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree from Department of Psychology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) dated 26 November, 1987 and Senior Secondary School Certificate from Boys Secondary School, Akpugo in Enugu state in 1980/81.

The burble burst when, following inquiries by his accusers, University of Nigeria authorities disowned Anike’s claimed university degree. The petitioners had requested the university to confirm the veracity of Anike’s claims or otherwise. And in response, the institution, in a letter dated January 1, 2007 and signed by Emma Ugwuja, for Registrar, responded that Anike’s claimed degree certificate did not originate from the university, meaning that it was forged. And a similar inquiry at the Personnel Department of the National Assembly, also, revealed that the two academic documents of Anike with which he served as Nnaji’s legislative aide were forged.

The point to actually make here is that our polity has been thoroughly messed up by our political aspirants cum office holders. And this situation seems to have been caused by the attractiveness of political offices in Nigeria. As such, citizens without conscience are ready to do anything, including forgery, to get to the top. Forgery, according to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a criminal offence, which attracts some years of imprisonment. But there is no record to show that the Nigeria police force has successfully prosecuted any single case of forgery. No doubt, the practice continues unabated.

But by the way, what legacy are these politicians and other culprits bequeathing to the generation of Nigerians yet unborn? Forgery is the greatest threat to national development, and Nigerian government should intensify efforts towards its eradication. The government can do this by establishing a special agency, just like the EFCC and ICPC, charged with the responsibility of waging war against forged and related offences.