By Obike Ukoh
Forgery, `corner cutting,’ and other corrupt practices, undoubtedly are bane of the country’s current democratic dispensation. To some extent, they appear to be the sure and easiest way to clinch power and other juicy political appointments.
The offenders are treated with kid glove, thereby emboldening others to join.
Issues of forgery and clear case of corner cutting, and jumping the gun, with the main aim of political ennoblement, dominate Nigeria’s media space regularly.
The current democratic dispensation started with the issue of forgery and corner cutting.
Alhaji Salisu Buhari, elected on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), to represent Nasarawa Federal Constituency of Kano State, emerged the speaker of the House of Representatives in June 1999.
It was later to be discovered that everything about him is criminality.
He claimed to have attended University of Toronto, and to have participated in the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
He boldly presented the certificates, as his official documents.
With the fake certificates, he contested election and won, and was subsequently made speaker.
Buhari was disgraced out of office, as he resigned because of the certificate forgery. He was later convicted and sentenced to two years in prison with an option of fine.
He paid the fine and was later pardoned by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The presidential pardon, means he can still occupy any office, including that of the president of the country if he wins election.
The circumstances in which Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance, under President Muhammadu Buhari resigned in 2018 is well known.
A commentator said that it was not just about“ whether Ms Adeosun was required to participate in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. It was mainly about her submission of a forged exemption certificate.’’
The commentator “revealed how Ms Adeosun skipped the mandatory national youth service and procured a forged certificate purporting to exempt her from the one-year exercise.
“The former minister went on to use the document to secure high-profile employment, including her appointment as a commissioner in Ogun State and later as Nigeria’s finance minister.’’
Adeosun was forced to resign from office on 14 September 2018.
Activists and civil society groups demanded her prosecution for forgery, insisting that if everyday Nigerians were found guilty of such an offence, they would be prosecuted.
However, the government declined to prosecute her.
However, extant Nigerian laws prescribe punishment for anyone who absconds from the NYSC scheme or forges its certificates.
Eligible Nigerians who skip the service are liable to be sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and/or a N2,000 fine, according to Section 13 of the NYSC law.
Section 13 (3) of the law also prescribes a three-year jail term or a N5,000 fine for anyone who contravenes the provisions of the law.
Subsection 4 of the same section, also criminalises giving false information or illegally obtaining the agency’s certificate. It provides for a jail term of up to three years for such offenders.
A minister under the President Bola Tinubu administration was also caught in the web of forgery.
Uche Nnaji, former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, resigned as a result of issues bordering on forgery.
Nnaji’s entry date into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), is not in doubt.
The issue is whether “ He Was Found Worthy In Character and Learning,’’ and resultant issuance of a certificate.
Amid the controversy, Nnaji, resigned while President Bola Tinubu accepted the resignation, according to Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
Onanuga further quoted the former minister as saying he had “been a target of blackmail by political opponents”.
The former minister later clarified that his resignation is not an admission of guilt but respect for due process.
The bone of contention in Nnaji’s case is that he did not complete his university education at UNN and that the bachelor’s degree and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificates he submitted were forged.
Nnaji said that his resignation, followed “deep reflection” and discussions with family and associates, and “sustained campaign of falsehood and malicious attacks” against his character and integrity.
“These unfounded allegations and media distortions have not only caused personal distress, but have also begun to distract from the vital work of the ministry and the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President,” he said.
Nnaji has not admitted guilt, while the issue is still subject of litigation between him and UNN, among others.
The UNN and NYSC are disputing that they issued the certificates the former minister is parading.
The dust is yet to settle on the NYSC certificate Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the current Minister of Interior, is holding.
The controversy started even during the screening of the minister.
The minister was asked why he participated in the NYSC scheme at 37 and why the discharge certificate he tendered carries a suspicious date.
Tunji-Ojo explained that eligible individuals for NYSC could participate anytime after their date of graduation, provided they graduate before the age of 30. This, he said, was his case.
Mr Tunji-Ojo claimed to have participated in the scheme between November 2019 and November 2020.
But he was a sitting member of the House of Representatives during the same period.
He was elected into the House in 2019 and re-elected in 2023, to represent Akoko North East/Akoko North-West Federal Constituency of Ondo State.
There are still agitation and protests, over Ojo’s continued retention as minister.
According to them, he ought to have been directed to resign just like Nnaji.
A Civil society group, League for Good Governance (LEGOG), pointedly told President Bola Tinubu, to disregard calls by certain vested interests for him to shield Tunji-Ojo, over the allegation he forged his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate.
A statement signed and issued by the convener of LEGOG, Isaiah Davies Ijele, explained that: “The fact that Minister Tunji-Ojo is a star performing minister is not in doubt.
“However, Nigeria is a country established and governed by the rule of law, hence, the push to get the president to look away from the substance of the allegations is a great disservice to Nigeria”.
The statement further said: “Instead of looking the other way, President Tinubu should ask the minister to submit himself for scrutiny.
Tinubu should direct Tunji-Ojo to come clean on the NYSC certificate he submitted to the Federal Government upon his nomination.
“Doing so would reinforce and boost Tinubu’s government’s credibility on adherence to the rule of law and good governance.
“Coming at a time a minister in Tinubu’s government just resigned over same certificate scandal, it would be disastrous for the president to shield anyone.
“President Tinubu should tread with caution as any attempt to shield Tunji-Ojo would send a wrong signal and may even introduce ethnic dimension to the whole issue.
“By accepting the calls to shield Tunji-Ojo, the president would have handed a portent topic to the relentless opposition to malign his government.
“Tunji-Ojo is not the first person in this web. Recall that the Minister of Finance under late President Muhammadu Buhari government, Kemi Adeosun, was caught in the same NYSC certificate web.
She simply resigned without resorting to throwing tantrums.
“This is no political witch-hunt as some henchmen are trying to suggest. Tunji-Ojo should approach the NYSC, whose office is located in the same Abuja, for the verification and confirmation of his NYSC certificate.
“Henchmen should stop distracting President Tinubu from doing his work. Let Tunji-Ojo, a citizen as Tinubu, defend himself,” the group said.
However, an APC chieftain in Rivers State, Mr Darlington Nwauju, has described protests against Tunji-Ojo’s continued stay in office as “political offensive aimed at weakening President Bola Tinubu’s re-election.
According to him, the protests are sponsored, with the aim of derailing the Renewed Hope momentum.
A former presidential adviser, Mr Okoi Obono-Obla, is now enmeshed in his own certificate forgery controversy, as he was recently arrested over the issue.
Obono-Obla served as Special Assistant to the President (Prosecution) attached to Federal Ministry of Justice under late President Muhammadu Buhari.
He also served as Chairman of the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SPIP).
He is facing allegations bordering on forging O’Level results to study law in the 1985/86 academic session in the University of Jos (UNIJOS).
The heat now is on Mr Benjamin Kalu, Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives.
A former First Vice President, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. John Aikpokpo-Martins, has written to the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee, (LPDC), and the NYSC, requesting a review of records relating to Kalu.
In separate letters sent to the two bodies, Aikpokpo-Martins asked the authorities to examine issues he said arose from publicly available information concerning Kalu’s period at the Nigerian Law School and his NYSC service year.
The former NBA official urged the LPDC to determine whether all statutory requirements were met before Kalu’s admission to the Roll of Legal Practitioners at the Supreme Court.
He also asked the NYSC to clarify the records relating to the issuance of a Certificate of National Service to the lawmaker.
Kalu was accused of combing NYSC service year with Law School attendance simultaneously.
Aikpokpo-Martins cited provisions of the Legal Practitioners Act and the NYSC Act in his request, stating that the relevant institutions are best placed to verify timelines and compliance with their respective regulations.
Kalu was called to the Nigerian Bar in September 2011 and subsequently enrolled as a legal practitioner at the Supreme Court.
The letters called on both bodies to review the matter and provide clarification where necessary
Meanwhile, a civil society organization, Igbo Mandate Movement Group, has described the petition against Kalu as frivolous, mischievous and politically motivated.
According to them, it is years-long campaign, to sabotage the career of one of Nigeria’s most prominent Igbo lawmaker.
Stakeholder say, the alarming rate of forgery in high places should be checked. Forgery they noted, is a criminal offence and should be treated as such. They also queried: Why is it that this forgery is always associated with political office holders.
They also stressed that a Country where confirmed forgers and corner cutters are allowed to occupy sensitive political positions is doomed.
Obike Ukoh, ex-Deputy Editor-In-Chief, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
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