That a wiz kid who graduated with distinction is making frenetic legal efforts to hide his impressive records tells us something is really amiss.
Depending on the interpretation one chooses, but the simple summary of the CSU witness deposition and cross-examination is that Bola Tinubu did indeed attend CSU, pass with flying colours but present a forged CSU certificate to INEC.
In this saga, I understand it is legal to replicate or clone original certificates/diplomas in the US, but it is clearly illegal in Nigeria. It is the same as replacing number plates. While it is ILLEGAL to obtain a replacement for a lost or faded number plate from roadside artists/vendors in Nigeria, it is LEGAL to do so in the UK.
In Nigeria, you must pay N25,000 to FRSC to have your number plate replaced. Advancement in technology did not only make life easier in advanced countries but also force their laws to be pliable. While their laws go in tune with their current realities, ours go with our Lugardian realities.
Nigerian laws do not only abhor forgery but uttering (presenting) forged documents. Section 468 of the Criminal Code Act in Nigeria says, “Any person who knowingly and fraudulently utters a false document or writing, or a counterfeit seal, is guilty of an offence of the same kind and is liable to the same punishment as if he had forged the thing in question.
“It is immaterial whether the false document or writing, or counterfeit seal, was made in Nigeria or elsewhere.
“The term “fraudulently” means an intention that the thing in question shall be used or acted upon as genuine, whether in Nigeria or elsewhere, to the prejudice of some person, whether a particular person or not, or that some person whether a particular person, or not, shall, in the belief that the thing in question is genuine, be induced to do or refrain from doing some act, whether in Nigeria or elsewhere.”
But Oluwole mentality is a genetic trait of many Nigerians. Quite a few notable citizens, nay Atiku himself, may come out unscathed if thoroughly scrutinised as he did Tinubu.
Atiku may win his case in the court of public opinion, but the outcome of his appeal in the Nigerian Supreme Court is predictable. Well, if you’re circumspect in presenting forged documents to INEC or employers, you should hold on for a couple of months for the Supreme Court to give you a waiver.
©️Jaafar Jaafar