Forgery: Court admits documents against Plateau lawmaker

The Federal High Court II, sitting in Jos, has admitted documents against an embattled Member of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Ibrahim Baba Hassan, who is standing trial for presenting an alleged fake diploma certificate in the last general elections.

 Hon Hassan (Defendant) who represents Jos North Constituency was dragged to court by Abdul Nasir (Plaintiff) who contested against him in the last All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election ahead of the 2015 elections.

During the sitting on Friday, the Judge, Justice Musa Kurya, admitted the payment receipts presented by the plaintiff's counsel, Ahmad Garba, said to have been obtained from the University of Jos on the request of whether the lawmaker had graduated from the university or not.

The counsel to the defendant, Nanfwang D. Gwaison, had earlier argued that the receipts were fake. The court also admitted another written document issued by the Deputy Registrar of the University of Jos, Caleb Mwansat, which stated that the alleged credentials presented by the lawmaker did not emanate from the university.

Justice Musa Kurya had earlier rejected the application of the lawmaker whose counsel, Nanfwang, objected to the admission of the document that said the certificate of the lawmaker did not emanate from the University of Jos.

 It would be recalled that during the court's sitting on October 12, 2016, the Registrar of the University of Jos, Monday M. Danjem, during his oral statement, told the court that Hassan did not graduate from the university and he further affirmed that the certificate did not emanate from the university.

 Justice Kurya ruled out the objection of the defendant's counsel for lack of merit, affirming that, “The University of Jos is the only University of Jos in Nigeria and its registrar is the one and only registrar of the institution” and thereby admitted the documents against the lawmaker. The judge, however, adjourned the sitting to November 13 for the presentation of the remaining witnesses by the registrar and cross examination of witnesses.