A prosecution witness, Insp. Francis Udofia, alleged that a businessman, Nwachukwu Eze, forged Court affidavits and impersonated Mr D.O. Olubaba, who is deceased to obtain certificate of registration from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
The police charged Eze with six counts bordering on alleged perjury, using forged documents as genuine and impersonation
Udofia, who is the third prosecution witness, told an FCT High Court sitting in Zuba, FCT, that he investigated a criminal case against Eze on Jan. 24, 2011.
According to him, the report was that the defendant swore to an affidavit where he (The Defendant) claimed that original certificates of registration for Apo Traders Association in his possession were missing.
He added that the defendant also swore to another affidavit claiming that he was Olubaba.
”My Lord, Olubaba died in 2010,” he said.
Udofia told the court that police wrote letters to the Chief Registrar of the FCT High Court and Registrar General of the CAC over the matter.
He added as the Investigating Police Officer, he also visited various magistrates’ courts in the FCT to ascertain the genuineness of the affidavits and it was discovered that the affidavits were not from any magistrate in the FCT.
”The report from the FCT High Court showed that the affidavit did not emanates from the Court.
”Following this, the Police also launched another investigation at the National Library of Nigeria.
”The police discovered that the defendant made a publication at Standard newspaper that he lost original certificate of registration in his possession.
”The police found out the obituary announcement and burial arrangement of the said Olubaba in one of the National Dailies at the National Library.
“Our investigation reveals that the suspect made the two affidavits in order to deceive and mislead the CAC to obtain another certificate of registration knowing fully well that affidavit was forged by him,’’ he said.
The Defence Counsel. Mr Keneth Uko, objected to the admissibility of the acknowledgement letters and response from the FCT High Court and CAC to the Police.
He relied on section 350 sub section II of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) stressing that the document to be tendered were not in the front document served on the defendant.
In his response, the Prosecution Counsel, Mr John Ijagbemi, said statute covering the admissibility of evidence was Evidence Act 2011 not ACJA and urges the court to discountenance the objection by defense counsel.
In his ruling, Justice A O. Ebong, adjourned the matter until Jan. 20, 2020 for cross-examination and continuation of trial. (NAN)
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