It was on August 19, 2015 at the Election Petition Tribunal in Awka that Andy Uba’s lead counsel, Arthur Obi-Okafor, SAN showed the petitioner, Engr Ernest Chukwuka Ndukwe a document to examine. The 1st respondent’s counsel had hinted the Tribunal he was showing proof that his client had necessary academic qualifications to have contested the senatorial election of March 28, 2015.
Dr. Ndukwe perused the document with professional eyes and told the senior advocate he had seen it. Document withdrawn, the legal expert proceeded with all other aspects of cross-examination. Then with the rule-of-thumb practice, Okafor tried to round up with ‘putting it to’ the prime witness that all he deposited in the petition were false.
‘’Everything in my petition and personal deposition are accurate including the fact that the certificate you showed me must have been forged…’’ Dr. Ndukwe was responding.
‘’Forged?’’ the lead counsel cut in while the courtroom went instantly silent.
‘’Most certainly because what you showed me was a Senior Secondary School Certificate result but we all know that by 1974 when such certificate was purported to have been obtained what we had in this country was West African School Certificate. So, how could what you showed me have been legit?” Dr. Ndukwe returned while all three justices of the tribunal scribbled fast.
How did this issue of certificate forgery come about? Many people in court were asking as case got adjourned and people trooped out of the filled courtroom.
It started with the petition…
Petition number EPT/AWK/S/12/2015 dated April 16, 2015 between…
1. Engr Ernest Chukwuka Ndukwe, 2. All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA … as petitioners.
Vs
- Andy Emmanuel Uba 2. Peoples Democratic Party, PDP 3. Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC 4. Prof Alex C. Asigbo, Returning Officer for Anambra South Senatorial District Election…as respondents.
Paragraph 9 of the petition stated thus… ‘’That the first respondent, Andy Emmanuel Uba, was not, as at time of the election, qualified to contest the election.’’ A statement repeated in paragraph 3 of the five-paragraph prayers in the petition.
While replying to the petition, the 1st respondent stated, ‘’paragraph 9 of the petition is false and denied. In further answer, the 1st respondent avers that he is qualified at the time of the election to contest the said election and has remained so qualified.’’
In support, they uploaded affidavit of personal particulars.
The 2nd respondent responded thus… ‘’Paragraph 9 of the petition is denied, and the petitioners are put to the strictest proof of the spurious allegation. The record of the 1st respondent, made available to the 3rd respondent by the 1st respondent, shows that the 1st respondent met the constitutional requirements to contest the senatorial election.’’ This is exactly the same wordings the 3rd and 4threspondents used in their joint reply to the petition.
Having put them to the strictest proof, the petitioners responded as follows…
‘’Particulars Of Forgery…
- The 1st respondent in his affidavit in support of personal particulars, INEC form CF 001, stated that he attended the following tertiary institutions, to wit:
- Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, 1984
- California State University, Los Angeles, 1985-1991
- The 1st respondent also stated in the said affidavit in support of personal particulars, that he has the following educational qualifications:
- West African School Certificate(WASC) – 1974
- Bachelor of Arts(Geography and Urban Analysis) – 2013
- PHD Public Administration(DPA) Honouris Causa – Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, 2009.
- The 1st respondent caused his INEC form CF 001, declared on oath and the following attachments thereto to be submitted to the 3rd respondent.
- A certificate from California State University for the award of a Bachelor of Arts degree 2013.
- Senior School Certificate Examination, May/June, 1974 from Union Secondary School, Awkunanaw, Enugu
- Certificate of award of a Doctorate Degree(Honouraris Causa) by Nnamdi Azikiwe University, 2009
- The Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination statement of result from Union Secondary School, Awkunanaw, Enugu is forged because there was no Senior School Certificate examination in 1974. The first set of Senior School Certificate Examination candidates sat for the examination in 1988/1989.
- The 1st respondent was one of the candidates for the 2nd respondent in the senatorial election for Anambra South Senatorial District in 2011 and he was declared the winner of said election.
- That in his declarations in INEC form CF001 which he verified on oath, and which he submitted to the 3rd respondent along with attachments, he stated that he attended the following academic institutions:
- Concordia University, Canada
- California State University
- Buxton University, London
And obtained the following certificates:
- West African school certificate (WASC)1970 – 1974
- Bachelor of Science (AWAITING)1985 – 1992
- Doctor of Science1993 – 1996
- That as evidence of his educational qualification, he attached the following documents in the said affidavit;
- Senior School Certificate Examination May/June 1974 from Union Secondary School, Awkunanaw, Enugu.
- Statement of Result
- Academic transcript from Concordia University
- Academic transcript from California State University
- Certificate from Buxton State University.
- The 1st respondent in that affidavit of personal particulars filed in 2010, as in the one deposed to and submitted to the 3rd respondent in 2014, did not attach any school certificate result from the West African Examination Council in proof of his claim to a West African School Certificate.
- The entire educational claims of the 1st respondent as deposed to by him in his INEC form CF 001 in 2010 was challenged in an election petition No/EPT/AN/NAE/04/2011 IKECHUKWU OBIORAH V ANDY EMMANUEL UBA & 4 ORS.
- The Senior School Certificate Examination May/June 1974 attached to the affidavit of personal particulars and which the 1st respondent submitted to INEC for the elections of 2011 contained the 1strespondents photograph.
- The same certificate submitted to INEC in 2014 for the 2015 elections does not contain any photograph.
- In the petition averred in paragraph 1 supra, ,the entire educational claims of the 1st respondent as averred in paragraphs F and G ante, were faulted in that there is no university in London known as Buxton University, and so no certificate have been awarded by a nonexistent university. The transcript of Concordia University which he submitted to INEC shows that his assessment by the authorities was failure and so he crashed out without completing any course of work for the award of Bachelor of Sciences, and the transcript from California State University shows he enrolled in the spring extension of 1985 and dis-enrolled in 1986 without completing any course of work necessary for the award of Bachelor of Sciences.
- That 1st respondent, in veiled attempts at correcting the anomalies in his depositions in 2010, stated in the 2014 deposition, in Tertiary Institutions attended, that he attended “Concordia University, Montreal Canada 1985”, but did not state that he received any certificate there from, unlike in the 2010 deposition.
- Still in attempting to correct the anomalies in the 2010 deposition, the 1st respondent stated in his 2014 deposition that he attached California State University 1985-1991, but unlike in the 2010 deposition where the Bachelor of Science was “AWAITING 1985-1992”, he attached a Bachelor of Arts certificate issued by the university in 2013, 22 years after he left the university.’’
That is as contained in the petition, replies and subsequent responses. It is left to the Tribunal to determine whether the petitioners have a valid proof of forgery or not. Besides the fact that forgery is a key element of corruption President Muhammadu Buhari strongly kicks against, one thing is however clear of the Nigerian Constitution and the Electoral Act…any candidate that presents forged documents as required particulars for clearance for any electoral position stands disqualified.
Tai Emeka Obasi writes from Awka
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