Forgery: More Witnesses Testify Against Reps.
More witnesses were on Thursday presented by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC in the trial of Nse Bassey Ekpenyong, a serving member of the House of Representatives, standing trial for forgery and uttering of documents before Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Federal High Court sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
At the resumed hearing of the matter on Thursday, defence counsel, Ekpenyong Nitikimi, cross-examined a prosecution witness, Usman Adoke, an operative of EFCC. Adoke was asked whether in the course of his investigation, the West African Examination Council, WAEC, denied issuing a Certificate to the defendant.
The Certificate had earlier been tendered as Exhibit H. The prosecution witness responded that the examination council denied issuing the kind of Certificate Ekpenyong presented for his election, as there was a super imposition of a passport photograph on the certificate.
The fourth prosecution witness, Etim Etet Okon Ndubuike, a lecturer at Cross-River State University of Science and Technology, Biological Science department was shown the WAEC’s exam photo card, which he identified as the same photo card that was shown to him at EFCC when he was invited by the Commission.
He said the signature and the name of the person who certified the exam photo card were not his. He further stated that in 1999, he was lecturer 1 in Biological Science Department while in exhibit G (WEAC exam photo card) the rank of the lecturer that certified the exam photo card was Lecturer II and the office address is Math and Statistics Department.
He said he had never worked in Maths and Statistics Department in the University and that he never witnessed for any candidate writing WAEC in 1999.
Justice Ojukwu adjourned the matter to 9, 15 Jun, 2017 for continuation of trial.
Ekpenyong is alleged to have forged an Abia State Polytechnic Ordinary National Diploma Certificate and uttered a 1999 West African Examination School Certificate, WASSCE, and thereby committed perjury before an Electoral Tribunal where he claimed that the certificates are genuine.
