We shall meet in Court – Aiyedatiwa
Amid the unfolding controversy surrounding the alleged certificate irregularities involving Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State, a lawyer, Oladotun Hassan, has petitioned President Bola Tinubu over a purported conspiracy to distort the police report regarding the certificate issue.
Hassan, who cautioned against the alleged ploy to manipulate the police report in the petition to Tinubu, urged the President to look into the development, with a plea that a thorough investigation into the matter be carried out.
The lawyer who initiated the police probe into the alleged discrepancies in the academic credentials of Aiyedatiwa, while maintaining his stand on the authenticity of the police report, emphasised that the police authority had given a Deputy Commissioner of Police the green light to investigate the academic records of the governor, after which the report was submitted.
On April 5, the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Olumuyiwa Adejobi, disowned the report, stressing that Deputy Commissioner of Police, Tahir Usman, who supervised the probe, lacked the authority to conduct such an investigation.
Adejobi said, “We wish to clarify that the said document did not originate from the Nigeria Police Force. The alleged signatory, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, does not have the authority to release such a report on behalf of the Force Criminal Investigation Department or any other such departments within the Nigeria Police Force.”
With the lawyer infuriated over the development, he disclosed that a top police officer was allegedly behind the move to obstruct the pursuit of justice and to distort facts in the official police report gotten from the police through the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
He said: “We are constrained to bring to your attention the unwholesome act of D.I.G. Sylvester Alabi on an issue bordering on the certificate forgery, perjury, and misrepresentation of facts brought to your exalted office on June 2, 2023, and after a thorough investigation for which a police report was given to us upon request under the Freedom of Information Act, sometime on February 15, 2024.
“Today, the 5th of April, 2024, we were inundated with a news report with ref. no.CZ. 5300/FPRD/FHQ/ABJ/VOL6/148 dated April 5, 2024, issued by ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, on behalf of the Nigeria Police Force.
“Sir, the true position is that our law firm, by petition, invited the police to investigate a case of certificate forgery, perjury, and criminal misrepresentation against Mr. Lucky Ayedatiwa, which the petition graciously approved for investigation.
“Based upon the said approval, police operatives, led by DCP Tahir Usman, swung into action and diligently investigated the maiter and found it a fact that the allegations are true. We thereafter made a formal request based on the spirit and letters of the Freedom of Information Act to the DIG, FCIB, Abuja, which request was granted, and a copy of the police report was issued to us. Let me use this medium to salute the courage and dexterity of the officers who carried out the investigation; we recommend that they ought to and should be commended.
“Based on the Police Report, a letter was sent to the National Leadership of the All Progressives Congress and the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is the leader of the party, to act on the report so that the party would avoid the pitfalls of what happened in the Bayelsa State chapter of the party in the governorship election.
“It is instructive to note that since the information was made public to the leadership of the APC, Mr. Lucky Ayedatiwa, instead of coming out to explain how he sat and got a WAEC O level certificate in 1982 from a school that was founded in 1980 and admitted to the police that it was accredited to conduct its first WAEC May/June examinations in 1985, has been busy trying to compromise the integrity of the Nigeria Police Force in order to prejudice the outcome of the report of the screening committee of the APC.
The petition further read, “In concert with him in the nefarious act of trying to compromise the integrity of the Nigeria Police Force is the DIG Sylvester Alabi, who we are told have been intimidating and harassing gallant and diligent officers who carried out a thorough investigation into the matter to the extent of issuing them queries.
“We have been reliably informed that D.I.G. Sylvester Alabi has confiscated the file and all other documents pertaining to the investigation with a view to tampering with the earlier findings by cooking up a new police report favourable to Mr. Lucky Ayedatiwa.
“This act of the D.I.G. Sylvester Alabi, to say the least, is most reprehensible and has given us the reasonable belief that DIG Sylvester Alabi’s action is borne out of some financial inducement, which we urge you to investigate without delay, sir.
“DIG Sylvester Alabi has since confirmed our apprehensions by causing the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, to issue this statement.
“We therefore, by this letter, urge you to without delay set up machinery to investigate this unwholesome act of the DIG Sylvester Alabi with a view to halting the harassment and intimidation of the gallant officers that, at the risks of their lives, conducted a thorough investigation in the matter of which the Nigeria Police Force should be proud.
“We are also requesting, sir, that the case file from DIG Sylvester Alabi be retrieved before he does any damage to the case file and, by extension, to the integrity and image of the Nigeria Police Force under your watch.
“We also invite the IGP to order a thorough investigation into these unwholesome acts of DIG Sylvester Alabi and his cohorts with a view to unravelling the facts surrounding the issuance of the press statement made by my ACP, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, on behalf of the police.”
AIYEDATIWA REACTS
Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, has threatened to sue a lawyer, Hassan Oladotun, for allegedly circulating a report maliciously designed to disqualify him from participating in the state governorship primary election.
The governor, through his lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), said Aiyedatiwa sat for the West African School Certificate Examination and his results were genuine.
In a letter addressed to Oladotun on April 8, a copy which was obtained by our correspondent on Monday, Adegboruwa said steps were taken to confirm the allegations against the governor which had been proved to be untrue.
“Upon your chorused repetition of this falsehood against our client, we took steps to conduct a verification exercise and indeed confirmed the authenticity of his West African School Certificate Examination results. We challenge you to proceed to do the same with the following particulars:
Name of the Candidate: Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa; Centre Number: 15592; Examination Number: 019; Centre: Ikosi High School, Ikosi-Ketu, Lagos State. Date of Examination: May/June, GCE O/L, 1982.
“The search will bring out the following results in favour of our client: English Language: 8; Bible Knowledge: 6; Economics: 4; Health Science: 8; Commerce: 3; Accounts: 7; Business Management: 8”, the letter partly read.
He, however, demanded a public apology published in three newspapers and withdrawal of the publications made regarding the governor’s certificate.
Adegboruwa said, “In the light of all the foregoing, we have the instructions of our client to demand from you as follows: a public apology, to be published in at least three newspapers with wide circulation all over Nigeria.
An unconditional withdrawal of all false and malicious publications made of and concerning the West African School Certificate Examination result. of our client.
“An unconditional withdrawal of your letters to the Nigeria Police Force in respect of the West African School Certificate Examination results of our client.
“An unconditional withdrawal of your letters to the All Progressives Congress in respect of the West African School Certificate Examination results of our cient.
“A conditional withdrawal of your letters to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in respect of the West African School Certificate Examination results of our client.”
Adegboruwa also demanded compensation for the false publications made against the governor.
He said, “Adequate compensation for the false and libellous publications made of and concerning our client based on his status, position in life, and political career. To cease from authoring, publishing, or in any other manner circulating further false and libellous publications of and concerning our client.”
Adegboruwa, however, noted that should Oladotun fail to meet their demands seven days after receiving the letter, the governor would institute legal action against him.
He said, “Take notice that if you fail, refuse, and/or neglect to comply with the above-stated demands within seven clear days of your receipt of this letter, we shall proceed to execute our client’s further instructions to explore all lawful means to seek redress against you without further notice to you.”
