A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Thompson Okpoko, SAN on Friday challenged those who have accused the former minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun of certificate forgery, to take her to court.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria who spoke to our correspondent at his Warri office, said those people who are calling for Adeosun’s prosecution should wait until the alleged forged NYSC certificate is produced as evidence.
He added that the only thing that can prove whether Adeosun committed a crime or not, was for those who have accused her to product documents of the alleged forged certificate.
The legal practioner said one of the document that must be produced to the court as evidence must be the original certificate, while the other one must be the alleged forged certificate.
Asked if the former minister has committed a crime or not, Okpoko said, “I know it is a matter of law and the law will not rely on a publication to determine a case. It may not provide the authentic facts in which the case might be decided. That is not to say that journalist are not publishing true stories, but the English language is not our language.
“The way you say anything may mean so many different things to many people, therefore the court may not rely on newspaper publication to judge a case, unless it is libelous where it is published in black and white, like an advert. So I do not have the facts to judge whether a crime is committed or not.
“Secondly, I know that when a person tenders a fake document in order that it may be relied upon as a genuine document, that may amount to perjury. In this case I have not seen the paper, so I cannot say anything until I see the document.
“Third, in order for you to prove that there is forgery, you must have two documemts: one must be the genuine one and the other must be the fake one . It is the comparism of the two that will enable us determine if a forgery has been committed. That is the position that I know. So I cannot tell you if there is a forgery or not.”
“If she says she does not know, it is possible that she telling the truth and it is also possible that she is not telling the truth.
“In other case, the law said that a person is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty. It now depends on the person who accused her of forgery to come forward with documents to prove it. At least she said she did not know the document was forged, and we must take that as the face value until somebody comes forward and say otherwise,” Okpoko said.
