Authorities of the University of Ibadan (UI) have for the second time since, cleared Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, of the allegation of forging his degree certificate.
The governor opened his defence on Tuesday at the Federal High Court, Abuja, calling two witnesses, one of whom was the Deputy Registrar, Legal, University of Ibadan, Abayomi Ajayi.
He told the court that the university is not dealing with this allegation for the first time as the Minister of State for Education had once brought the issue before the institution.
The witness, who was led in evidence by Ken Mozia (SAN), Obaseki’s counsel, explained that Obaseki’s photocopy was incomplete due to the process of photocopying.
The witness also told the court that the university was not dealing with this allegation for the first time as the Minister of State for Education had once brought the issue before the institution.
He maintained that from the records of the university, Obaseki was admitted as student in 1976 through Direct Entry and that he graduated in the year 1979, during the tenure of Prof. Tekena Tamino as Vice Chancellor and S.J Okufu as Registrar.
“I will not regard the photocopy of the original certificate as forged but incomplete photocopying because the certificate of the University of Ibadan is larger than the paper upon which the photocopy was made,” Ajayi submitted.
The witness who claimed to be a close associate of Obaseki, told the court that he made the disputed photocopy Obaseki attached to his nomination form submitted to INEC.
It would be recalled that the All Progressives Congress and one of its chieftains, Williams Edobor, dragged Obaseki to court for allegedly forging his university certificate he submitted to INEC to aid his qualification for the September 19, 2020 governorship election in Edo State.
The plaintiffs wanted the court to disqualify Obaseki, who won the election, in the event that he was found to have forged his university degree obtained from the University of Ibadan in 1979.
