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Alleged Forgery: Court Summons FIIRO Staff To Testify In Ex-DG, Igwe’s Case

  A Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja has summoned an administrative officer attached to the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), Abati … Continue reading Alleged Forgery: Court Summons FIIRO Staff To Testify In Ex-DG, Igwe’s Case


A file photo of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO).
A file photo of the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO).

 

A Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja has summoned an administrative officer attached to the Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), Abati Abidemi to testify in the alleged certificate forgery case of a former acting Director-General of the institute, Chima Igwe.

Justice Sherifat Solebo issued the summons after the prosecuting counsel, Henry Emore told the court that his second witness, Abidemi said he had been warned by “the chairman” not to appear in court as a witness in the matter.

After issuing the summons, the judge said that a warrant of arrest would be issued if Abidemi failed to obey the court order.

The matter was then adjourned to June 14, 15 and 16 for the continuation of trial.

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The former FIIRO Acting DG, Chima Igwe was arraigned in November 2021 by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) for alleged certificate forgery.

He pleaded not guilty.

Before the summons, the first prosecution witness, Vera Esideme concluded her cross-examination from the previous day.

While answering questions from the defendant’s lawyer, Clinton Neon testified that the investigation team did its best.

She said that Igwe submitted an attestation signed by Mansur Moudathirou, a Professor at the Abomey Calabi University in the Benin Republic.

She said during their investigation, they wrote to the university and sent a team to verify the suspect’s claim, adding that Igwe said he sent the attestation to a French translator and it was translated to mean that he had completed his PhD programme.

“…whereas our finding from the responses to the school says that it is neither a certificate nor statement of result,”  the witness said.

“In the course of your investigation, did you investigate all the academic records of the defendants?” the lawyer asked.

The witness replied in the affirmative.

Esideme said they found out that the defendant is a first class graduate from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

He had a Master’s degree at the University of Lagos and proceeded for his PhD in the Benin Republic between 1999 – 2002 “but did not defend the thesis.”

She insisted that the correspondence they received from the University revealed that the defendant did “coursework not research.”

“That attestation is a precursor to the ceremonial public presentation of the thesis?” the defendant’s lawyer asked.

Responding, Esideme said, “No, it is not a prerequisite.”

“Are you aware that before the attestation was issued to the defendant, the defendant had presented and defended his thesis before core academicians namely, Professor Koumaglo, Professor Chalchat, Professor Mansur?” the lawyer asked.

In her response, Esideme said, “he stated that he submitted a thesis and he also defended it before Professor Mansur and two others. He stated this in about four statements on January 20, 27, 29 and 31, 2020,”

“It was in the process of verifying his claims that letters were written to the embassy of Benin Republic in Nigeria where we requested to know if he had completed the PhD programme and if the attestation that he submitted was a statement of the result of his certificate and if he applied to the university requesting for the certificate.

“And the embassy wrote back to the commission that the attestation was neither a statement of result nor a certificate. And he did complete the coursework between 1998 and 2001 but had not defended his thesis. And the thesis is the prerequisite for you to receive a certificate.”