Man bags three years for forging HND certificate

AN Oyo State Chief Magistrate's court, sitting at Iyaganku in Ibadan, has sentenced one Akinwale Babatunde Kabir, to three years imprisonment for forging a Higher National Diploma (HND) certificate of The Polytechnic, Ibadan.
The Chief Magistrate, O. A. Ogunrin, sentenced the accused person, having found him guilty of forgery in line with the two- count charge of conspiracy and forgery preferred against him, contrary to Sections 516 and 467 of the Criminal Code Cap 38, Volume II, Laws of Oyo State, 2000.
Kabir had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges pressed by the prosecution, when they were read to him.

As at the time of his arrest, the accused was a staff of the Mufutahu Olanihun College of Education, Ibadan, where he claimed to have lower credit in HND Marketing, whereas what he had was "a pass" on the certificate.
Inspector John Agho, in his evidence- in- chief, told the court that the college authorities reported a case of forgery of Higher National Diploma certificate to the police, following which he went to arrest Kabir.
According to Agho, police investigation showed that Kabir scored 2.16 which was a pass, following which he was charged to court.
The authorities of the college were able to discover Kabir's misdeed when his HND certificate was forwarded to the Polytechnic, Ibadan for verification, "as a matter of routine."
The polytechnic also discovered that Kabir actually did his HND Marketing in the institution, although the certificate he presented to the Mufutau Olanihun College of Education was at variance with the record of the institution. He had a pass grade in the records of the Polytechnic and was yet to collect his certificate.
The Prosecution had earlier confronted Kabir with witnesses, including the then Registrar of the college, Mr. Fatai Adekitan Aderogba and Mr. Gbenga Adejumo, the then Deputy Registrar (Exams and Records) of the Polytechnic.

They had all testified against the accused person. Kabir, however denied the charge of conspiracy with anybody to commit forgery. He could not however substantiate how he obtained the contentious HND certificate with lower credit. The Chief Magistrate ruled that the prosecution had failed to establish the charge of conspiracy because Kabir could not have conspired with himself. She therefore discharged him on the first count of conspiracy.
She however found Kabir guilty of forgery.

In her judgment, she declared that, "the prosecution has proved the offence of forgery against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt. As such, I find the defendant guilty as charged. Bearing in mind the counsel's plea on behalf of the defendant, the defendant is hereby sentenced to three years imprisonment or N25, 000 fines, in respect of count 2."

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