Kogi lawmaker denies report of certificate forgery

Hon. Lawal Muhammadu Idirisu, Member representing Ajaokuta Federal Constituency of Kogi state, has reacted to media report that he allegedly forged his certificate.

Idiriau described as "pure blackmail" and "malicious", the media publication of a fresh certificate forgery suit against him.

According to the report, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general election, Aloysius Okino Adeiza, had on February 6, 2020, filed a fresh suit at the FCT High Court, Abuja, challenging the lawmaker's education qualification.

Adeiza is challenging the National Diploma Certificate issued to Idirisu by the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, for the seventh time.

The matter, which had been adjudicated in favour of Idirisu of the All Progressive Congress (APC), by courts of competent jurisdiction, including the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court; was erroneously reported by a section of the media on February 20, 2020.

Reacting to the said publication through his counsel, Tawada Adams Esq, the lawmaker said the publication was intended to mislead the Nigerian Police and the general public.

He said the media publication was politically motivated, stressing that, having been decided at different courts of law, the fresh suit was tantamount to abuse of court process.

"The said online publication is purely politically motivated as the issue of the alleged forgery against Hon. Lawal Muhammadu Idirisu has since been settled by superior courts of the land. Therefore, consider the said publication as a pure blackmail coming from unminded people whom have tried through the courts without success and have now resorted to cheap blackmail, despite the clear position of the courts on this issue.

"It is worthy of note that the following cases have addressed the nagging issues of forgery of national diploma certificate and West African Examination certificates against Hon. Aloysius Okino Adeiza: Court of appeal Abuja, in CA/A/EPT/647/2015; Court of Appeal Abuja, in CA/A/408/2019; Federal High Court Abuja, in FHC/ABJ/CS/1264/2018; Supreme Court, In SC/894/2019; High Court Abuja, in FCT/HC/CV/724/2019 (particularly at page 25 lines 11 to 16 of the said Judgment) and Court of Appeal Abuja, in CA/A/EPT/852/2019 (particularly at page 10 lines 3 to 10 of the said Judgment)".

He enjoined the general public to disregard the latest publication on the fresh suit, as it is "highly subjudice".

"We therefore contend that any other criminal allegation instituted on same facts of forgery against Hon. Lawal Muhammadu Idirisu amounts to an abuse of court process, in which the complainant, Hon. Aloysius Okino Adeiza has been estopped from raising similar complaints.

"We consider the said publication as unfounded, malicious and highly subjudice, since the issue of a pending criminal charge against Hon. Lawal Muhammadu Idirisu is being challenged in court at the moment in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/200/2020", the statement further added.

It would be recalled that, Hon. Adeiza of the PDP, had in 2015, challenged the qualification of Idirisu to contest the House of Representatives election, but lost the suit at both the tribunal sitting in Lokoja and the appellate court.

Adeiza also dragged Idirisu to federal high court, Abuja and court of appeal, Abuja, in 2019, alleging that Hon. Idirisu forged his National Diploma certificate.

The appellate court in its ruling in June 2019, did not only dismiss Adeiza's appeal, but it also awarded a cost of N400,000 against him, for engaging in abuse of court process.

The Supreme Court of Nigeria had also dismissed the allegation of certificate forgery against Idirisu.