UNIZIK Suspends Official For 6 Months Over Certificate Forgery

The Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State, Prof Charles Okechukwu Esimone, has approved the immediate suspension of a staff member, Nwafor Ogbonnaya Nwesuzor, for six months for allegedly presenting a forged degree result to the university.

A statement signed by Special Adviser to the Vice Chancellor on Public Relations and Special Duties, Dr. Emmanuel C. Ojukwu, on Thursday, stated that the staff presented two degree certificates bearing Nwafor Osborne Ogbonnaya and Nwafor Ogbonnaya Nwesuzor respectively.

The statement explained that Nwesuzor reportedly abandoned his undergraduate programme and forged the university’s statement of result and a letter of exclusion from the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC), all bearing the name, Nwafor Osborne Ogbonnaya and presented the documents for the school for employment.

The statement said that the suspect later went ahead to complete his degree programme, adding that the alleged forgery was discovered when he wrote to the university requesting to change his degree result.

It added that the new result he submitted bears the name, Nwafor Ogbonnaya Nwesuzor, including a different class of degree which raised suspicion.

The school stated that upon further investigation, it was discovered that Nwesuzor forged his degree result and letter of exclusion from the NYSC based on the obvious disparity between the documents he submitted originally and the new documents he was trying to substitute.

“The class of degree in both results presented varies. The forged statement of result with the name Nwafor Osborne Ogbonnaya bears second class lower division while the original result with the name Nwafor Ogbonnaya Nwesuzor bears third class,” the statement said.

According to the statement, the Vice Chancellor had therefore approved his suspension for six months so as to enable the school authorities carry out further investigations into the forgery allegation.

“In following due process, the Vice Chancellor in exercising his powers based on the university rules and regulations approved his immediate suspension from the employment of the university for six months while his case undergoes other processes in the university before final action,” the statement said.