Alleged certificate fraud: Court summons FIIRO staff

An Ikeja Special Offences Court has summoned Abidemi Abati, an Administrative Officer of Federal Institute of Industrial Research Oshodi (FIIRO), to testify in the trial of a former Acting Director-General of FIIRO, or face arrest.

Igwe is charged with certificate fraud by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).

Our correspondent reports that Igwe is facing a three-count charge of giving a document with false information, using office to proffer unfair advantage and making false statement to a public officer.

Justice Sherifat Solebo issued the subpoena when ICPC counsel, Mr Henry Emore, informed her that Abati, who was scheduled to be the second prosecution witness, did not want to come to court.

Emore said that Abati informed him that he had been warned by “the chairman” not to appear in court as a witness in the matter.

Issuing the subpoena, Solebo said that the court would issue a warrant of arrest against Abati if he would not come and testify.

Earlier, the first prosecution witness, Mrs Vera Esidene, an ICPC Investigator, testified more about findings from her investigation of the veracity of Igwe’s PhD certificate.

Esidene testified during cross-examination by defence counsel, Mr C.U. Nwonu.

She said that Igwe submitted to FIIRO, an attestation signed by Mansour Moudathirou, a professor at the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC), Republic of Benin.

Esidene said that her office wrote to the university and sent a team there to verify the defendant’s claim.

She testified that Igwe claimed 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 is that it is neither a certificate nor statement of result”.

Nwonu asked Esidene if she investigated all the academic records of the defendant.

The witness replied in the affirmative.

She said that investigations revealed that the defendant was a first class graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and that he had a Master’s degree from the University of Lagos.

The ICPC investigator said that Igwe proceeded for his PhD programme in Republic of Benin from 1999 to 2002 “but did not defend the thesis”.

She told the court that correspondences her office received from the UAC revealed that the defendant did “coursework, not research”.

“That attestation is a precursor to the ceremonial public presentation of the thesis?” defence counsel asked.

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

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

The witness responded: “He stated that he submitted a thesis and defended it before Professor Mansur and two others.

“He stated this in about four statements – on Jan. 20, 27, 29 and 31, 2020.”

The witness said that in verifying Igwe’s claim, letters were written to the Embassy of the Republic of Benin Republic in Nigeria, requesting to know if he completed the PhD programme.

“The letter also enquired if the attestation Igwe submitted was a statement of the result and if he had applied to the university requesting for the certificate.”

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

Defence counsel pointed out that one of those who petitioned the ICPC over Igwe, Mr Olanrewaju Suraju, the Chairman of Human and Environmental Development Agenda, is undergoing trial before a Federal high court in Abuja.

It was reported that Igwe’s alleged offences contravene Sections 17(1)(c), 19 and 25(1)(b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act.

The case was adjourned until June 14 for continuation of trial.