Nine members of the Ekiti State House
of Assembly are to be prosecuted by the Nigerian government for alleged
forgery of their academic results.
According to the
Punch,
a security source said in Abuja on Sunday, July 24, 2016, that the
decision to prosecute them was based on the outcome of “an intensive
investigation carried out by the Department of State Services into the
state lawmakers’ certificates.’’
The DSS, it was gathered, carried out the investigation into the
credentials submitted by the politicians to the Independent National
Electoral Commission during the last general elections.
It has been alleged that the probe was sequel to a myriad of
petitions sent to the agency and the Police by aggrieved members of the
ruling Peoples Democratic Party and the opposition party in the state,
the All Progressives Congress.
Investigation was said to have been carried out in schools allegedly
claimed to have been attended by the lawmakers and their former places
of work.
The source explained that the files of the affected lawmakers had
been sent to the office of the Attorney General of the Federation for
prosecution.
“We have investigated the academic credentials of the lawmakers based
on petitions sent to us by the politicians in the state,” the source
said.
“The petitions were based on alleged false declaration of academic
qualifications and alleged age falsification in the papers presented to
the INEC.
“We have been able to know that petitions against nine members of the State House of Assembly are genuine.
“We have already presented our report and we are expecting the office
of the AGF to study it and prepare the charges against the suspects.”
When contacted on Sunday, July 24, 2016, the Special Adviser to the
AGF on Media and Publicity, Mr. Salihu Isah, said he was not aware of
the planned prosecution, but promised to find out.
“I am not aware of whether there is anything like that. I promise to find out during the week,” he said.
Reacting to the planned prosecution, Gboyega Aribisogan, the
chairman, Committee on Information of the Ekiti State House of Assembly,
said no member had been invited by any security agency for questioning.
He argued that there could be no prosecution of their members without
investigation and subsequent indictment, stressing that the said
prosecution was a “propaganda.”
“Up until today, none of our members has been invited by any security
agency. There can be no prosecution without investigation by the
police. This is part of the rumour and propaganda from the enemies of
the government,” Aribisogan said.
“None of our members forged certificates. We went through screening
with the DSS and we duly submitted our certificates to INEC and
underwent proper documentation.
“Have they checked with the West African Examinations Council or
relevant educational institutions to confirm their (certificates)
authenticity or otherwise. No security agency will buy into the
propaganda.” He added.
The Ekiti State House of Assembly is made up of 26 members.
As South Africa and the world are
celebrating Mandela Day, whereby people are encouraged to dedicate 67
minutes of their time on this day by doing good unto others in honor of a
man who has been considered as one of the greatest men of the 20th and
21st centuries.
This sermon in no way can be assumed as a
promotion of apartheid because we believe that it was wrong. However,
we must remember that two wrongs never make a right.
When there is a comedy show there is always
a huge turn out, because people love to laugh. The line up for the show
included performances from Elenu, Funny bone, Ajebo, Mc Shakara, Ajele
and Seyi Law himself amongst others.
