Eno was dragged to court by Akan Okon, a contestant in the May 25 PDP governorship primary, over allegations that he (Eno) is parading forged WAEC certificate in his bid to actualise his governorship ambition.
A Chief Superintendent of Police, Chris Endeley, who was to act as a defence witness in the ongoing certificate forgery case against the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State, Umo Eno, ‘fumbled’ in court, SaharaReporters has gathered.
Eno was dragged to court by Akan Okon, a contestant in the May 25 PDP governorship primary, over allegations that he (Eno) is parading forged WAEC certificate in his bid to actualise his governorship ambition.
Endeley with Batch number 42021, during cross-examination by the counsel for the Plaintiff, Okey Amaechi, SAN, told the court that he was authorised by the Commissioner of Police, upon receiving a petition by Pastor Umo Eno to the police, to investigate a letter Okon had earlier tendered as evidence.
According to the said letter addressed to a group, the Association for the Advancement of Democracy in Nigeria, AADN, which was dated 8th April 2022 and signed T. A. Ademola, WAEC Exams and Records, WAEC had confirmed that Eno’s certificate does not exist in its records.
“This is to notify you that certificate No. PO 275878 A for candidate No. 15725119 of December 1983 submitted for certification by you does not exist in our records hence we cannot certify what we did not issue,” the letter had read.
In his testimony, Endeley told the court that WAEC said the letter was not from their office but failed to confirm the candidate number and the certificate number on the said letter.
He also revealed that he commenced his investigation on July 28, 2022, by visiting WAEC Zonal controller’s office in Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos State.
However, contrary to his verbal testimony, the letter of authorisation by WAEC which he tendered in court was dated August 8, 2022, while the date he signed and collected it was August 5, 2022.
Checks by SaharaReporters have revealed more discrepancies in the said letter of authorisation addressed to the Nigeria Police Force, Department of Criminal Investigation and Intelligence, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
While the candidate and certificate numbers in the WAEC’s April 8, 2022 letter tendered by Okon tallies with the numbers in Pastor Eno’s 1983 certificate, that of August 8, 2022, which Endeley tendered, does not.
Further checks show that the August 8, 2022 letter from WAEC obtained by Umo Eno bears certificate number SG699413 and candidate number 15520230.
“Attached copy of certificate (certificate number SG699413 for Candidate 15520230) reflects the candidate’s grades and personal details as presented at the time of the examination,” a part of the letter reads.
After the cross-examination, Counsel for the Plaintiff, Okey Amaechi, informed the court that from Endeley’s contracting and incoherent testimony, it was very clear that the documents tendered by the defence team were forged.
Endeley, apparently knowing that he fumbled during his testimony became very jittery and hurriedly left the court after the cross-examination.
Speaking with SaharaReporters after the court sitting at the court premises, the plaintiff’s lawyer, Amaechi noted that Okon was able to establish that the police witness for Eno fabricated all the documents he tendered before the court.
According to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, his client has laid all the foundation to show that the police witness fabricated all documents he tendered in court as evidenced in the obvious inconsistencies in his testimonies during cross-examination.
“We asked him whether he met the zonal coordinator of the WAEC at the Ikeja office, he told us that he met with the Zonal Coordinator and interacted with him extensively during the investigation but that he doesn’t know the name of the zonal coordinator,” Ameachi said.
The plaintiff's lead lawyer insisted that all the evidence presented in court by the Police CSP was fabricated by him to help his bosom friend and alleged benefactor Eno to wriggle out of the certificate forgery entanglement from which he has been struggling hard to extricate himself.
Okon’s witness, Reginald Udunze, a retired police handwriting analyst, during cross-examination by Paul Usoro (SAN), the defence lead counsel, had affirmed that Eno’s certificates were forged.
A copy of the detailed forensic report exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters further exposes the discrepancies in the passport photographs and signatures on Eno’s certificates.
The forensic report was further confirmed to be true during the hearing of Wednesday 14 September when Eno’s legal team attempted to swap the certificate they had earlier tendered in Court the previous day.
The plaintiff, Okon while being cross-examined by Paul Usoro, raised an alarm that the photocopy of Eno’s certificate presented to him was different from the one that was tendered the previous day.
Okon had observed that there was a pagination "2/2" inscribed on the bottom strip of the 1981 certificate and "1/2" also inscribed on the bottom strip of the 1983 certificate were all trimmed off.
“My Lord, this is not what I saw yesterday, the photocopy is not complete. Please ask them to bring the original certificate they presented yesterday. The copy they tendered yesterday had pagination, the photocopy that was admitted yesterday is different from this one they are presenting to me,” Okon said.
When the Judge directed the court clerk to bring the photocopy of the certificate tendered the previous day by Eno, and presented to Okon, he (Okon) drew the attention of the court to the bottom strip on the photocopy admitted in court the previous day.
Following the ‘fumbling’ of the defence star witness, Endeley on Tuesday, the case which is before Justice Agatha A. Okeke of the Federal High Court, Uyo, was adjourned to Monday, October 14, 2022, for the adoption of written address by both parties.
Documents (1) by Sahara Reporters on Scribd