Certificate Forgery: Absence Of Dismissed NECO Staff Stalls Arraignment – Lawyer

Mr. P. M. Lere, the legal Counsel representing Mrs Ross Deffi, one of the 89 staff of the National Examination Council (NECO) dismissed in 2020, over allegations of certificate forgery told the court that his client was unable to appear in court due short notice given to her.

Mrs. Deffi was one of those indicted during the 2020 nationwide certificate verification exercise conducted by NECO for members of staff.

About 89 members of staff were indicted and confirmed to be using fake certificates that year including Deffi.

The Council’s Governing Board had then approved the dismissal of the 89 workers and transferred their files to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the Nigerian Police for prosecution.

Mrs Deffi was therefore arraigned at the Plateau State High Court, Jos, by ICPC, over an allegation of forging her academic certificate while she was a staff of NECO.

However, when the matter came up on Thursday, Deffi’s lawyer, Lere, told the presiding judge, Justice G. D. Fwomyon, that his client received a call at about 9:30pm on Wednesday informing her that she would be arraigned the following day.

According to him, as of the time of the call, Deffi was at Minna, Niger State, and despite the short notice, she still planned to return to Jos on Thursday morning, but unfortunately she couldn’t still make it in court.

The lawyer therefore applied to receive the charge-sheet on behalf of his Defendant, and on his part, Counsel to ICPC, Mr. O. G. Iwuagwu told the Court that the prosecution was unable to serve the charge-sheet on the defendant because it also got notified about the sitting on Monday and only managed to arrive in Jos on Wednesday.

He then said it was the reason why the defendant was called on over the phone on Tuesday, informing her about the sitting on Wednesday.

“The Defendant had no objection to our coming to Jos from Abuja to serve her but on getting here, the story changed that she was first in Lokoja then we are hearing now that she was in Minna,” he said.

He also told the court that her case was a criminal trial, and she was required by law to be served in person.

Iwuagwu however said that given the application by the counsel to the defendant for a substituted service, the prosecution “pray on the strength of the application to be served by substituted means on the order of the court.

“We also pray that the counsel to the Defendant on the strength of his application would ensure her appearance in court at the next adjourned date,” he further requested.

The trial judge then ruled that the defendant be served through a substituted means and her lawyer should ensure her presence in the next sitting.

The matter was adjourned to 21st June 2024, for the defendant to take her plea.