A Lagos High Court in Ikeja will on Friday (today) determine whether or not the Comptroller General of Nigerian Customs, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko, should be prosecuted for alleged certificate forgery.
Lagos-based lawyer, Festus Keyamo, had in a suit, asked the court for an order of mandamus, compelling the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecution, to prosecute Dikko for the alleged offence.
Justice Yetunde Idowu had adjourned till Friday, March 23 (today) for judgment in the suit after hearing parties in the suit.
Keyamo alleged that Dikko forged two certificates purportedly issued by the Nigerian Institute of Management and the West African Examination Council.
Mr. Olajide Oyewole, had in a 50-paragraph affidavit, confessed to helping Dikko to forge the two certificates.
Represented by Mr. Festus Afeiyodion during the hearing of the suit, Keyamo accused the DPP of covering up the offence “glaringly committed by Dikko”.
Keyamo stated that he had on July 19, 2010 submitted a letter accompanied with a draft charge and proof of evidence to the office of the Lagos State Attorney-General to aid Dikko’s prosecution.
However, DPP’s counsel, Mr. Olarenwaju Akinsola, opposed Keyamo’s suit, urging the court to dismiss it for being premature.
The DPP, in an 11-paragraph affidavit deposed to by a counsel in the state Ministry of Justice, Olateju Taiwo, stated that Keyamo’s prayer was premature as the report of police investigation on the matter was being awaited.
Taiwo also averred that Keyamo only supplied copies of the allegedly forged certificates as evidence without accompanying it with confirmation of the authenticity or otherwise of the claim by the purported issuing authorities – NIM and WAEC.
Keyamo, however, urged the court to reject DPP’s excuse of lack of sufficient evidence to prosecute Dikko for the offence.
Lagos-based lawyer, Festus Keyamo, had in a suit, asked the court for an order of mandamus, compelling the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecution, to prosecute Dikko for the alleged offence.
Justice Yetunde Idowu had adjourned till Friday, March 23 (today) for judgment in the suit after hearing parties in the suit.
Keyamo alleged that Dikko forged two certificates purportedly issued by the Nigerian Institute of Management and the West African Examination Council.
Mr. Olajide Oyewole, had in a 50-paragraph affidavit, confessed to helping Dikko to forge the two certificates.
Represented by Mr. Festus Afeiyodion during the hearing of the suit, Keyamo accused the DPP of covering up the offence “glaringly committed by Dikko”.
Keyamo stated that he had on July 19, 2010 submitted a letter accompanied with a draft charge and proof of evidence to the office of the Lagos State Attorney-General to aid Dikko’s prosecution.
However, DPP’s counsel, Mr. Olarenwaju Akinsola, opposed Keyamo’s suit, urging the court to dismiss it for being premature.
The DPP, in an 11-paragraph affidavit deposed to by a counsel in the state Ministry of Justice, Olateju Taiwo, stated that Keyamo’s prayer was premature as the report of police investigation on the matter was being awaited.
Taiwo also averred that Keyamo only supplied copies of the allegedly forged certificates as evidence without accompanying it with confirmation of the authenticity or otherwise of the claim by the purported issuing authorities – NIM and WAEC.
Keyamo, however, urged the court to reject DPP’s excuse of lack of sufficient evidence to prosecute Dikko for the offence.
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