SaharaReporters is in possession of documents indicating that Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, may have forged the West Africa School Certificate with which he was purportedly admitted to the University of Lagos to study law.
SaharaReporters is in possession of documents indicating that Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, may have forged the West Africa School Certificate with which he was purportedly admitted to the University of Lagos to study law.
The contentious certificate is also one of the supporting documents the governor submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission in the run-up to his election as governor in 2007.
Suswam, who is coordinator of President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign in the North-central region, was supposedly admitted to UNILAG on the basis of a 1982 General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level certificate with candidate number: 07652151.
The original certificate portrayed him as having passed five subjects, the subjects passed were without Mathematics and English, which is a pre-requisite subject for admission into law programmes in Nigerian universities.
However, while the governor’s traducers were still wondering how he managed to sneak into the University of Lagos without appropriate entry requirements, Suswam wrote to WAEC in 2005, claiming that his certificate was missing. He attached photocopies of the purportedly missing certificate, a police extract and affidavit of loss of certificate to the letter.
Shortly afterwards, the governor claimed WAEC sent him a replacement for his lost certificate. The new certificate came with the same candidate number (07652151), with his passport photograph embossed on it.
However, the new certificate had significant changes indicating that Suswam passed "English and Mathematics", significantly raising the possibility that the new document is “a complete forgery” according to Suswan critics.
Already, Terver Kakih, a governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party in Benue state, has asked a Federal High Court in Makurdi to order the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Crimes Commission (ICPC) to investigate the alleged forgery and other allegations of financial impropriety and embezzlement levelled against the governor in various petitions.
Joined in the suit, in which Kakih asked the West African Examination Council to withdraw and cancel the forged certificate, were the EFCC, the ICPC, INEC, the Benue State House of Assembly, the Benue state Attorney General, and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
When the case came up for hearing last Thursday, Suswam and the other defendants failed to show up in court, neither did any counsels represent them. Justice Abimbola Ogie therefore ordered the parties to appear on the next adjourned date, December 3rd, 2010.
Not too long ago, one Chigozie Ukpabi squealed on Suswam, saying he helped the governor to falsify the results.
The governor denied the allegation as 'baseless' and the handiwork of 'political opponents'. Ukpabi is now being detained at the Nigerian Police Force headquarters in Abuja, reportedly on Suswam’s orders.
There are also doubts over whether Suswam really graduated from the Nigerian Law school or if he was called to the Nigerian Bar. In the third edition of the Nigerian Lawyers Directory published by the Council for Legal Education, there are two completely different entries for Suswam. The first said he was called to the bar on December 5, 1990 while the second portrayed him as having been admitted on June 8, 1991.
Meanwhile, several political activists from Benue State, are calling on anti-corruption agencies to get to the bottom of the case and “save Benue from this fraud of a governor”.
“As the matter continues to generate debates within Benue state, attempts by the governor and his aides to douse the flames of forgery and corruption allegations have created a lot more suspicion,” one of our sources, said in an email. “The governor in different interviews, at different times, has given conflicting reports on the issues of his WAEC certificate. At some point he claims his original certificate was burnt in a building. On another occasion, he has given different reasons for the loss of his certificate. His constant, albeit weak, denials continue to fuel suspicions.”
He added, “I am therefore appealing to you that you help the people of Benue look into this matter. While some of us have limited access to conduct proper investigations on this, we are strongly convinced the governor has a case to answer regarding this grand forgery.”
Yet another activist said, “Gabriel Suswam claims to have read law from the University of Lagos, but this claim too is becoming doubtful as no one except him seems to know any UNILAG course mates of his or any of his barrister contemporaries who were called to the bar the same year as him.
“This is a governor whose corrupt acts know no bounds. You will notice that he is desperately involved in Goodluck Jonathan's presidential bid, a move many interpret as 'political survival' game. He hopes Jonathan will help sweep his scandals under the carpet for political gains”
