ICPC charges provost, lecturer for certificate forgery

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has arraigned the Provost of the Federal College of Education (Technical), (FCET), Gusau, Zamfara State, and a lecturer from Sokoto State College of Education (SSCE) before the Sokoto State High Court on allegations of certificate forgery.

The anti-graft agency accused the Zamfara provost, Hauwau Abdulkarim, and Sokoto college’s lecturer, Abdullahi Boyi, of forging an appointment letter used by Ms Abdulkarim to apply for her current position. It also accused them of making false statements to the ICPC during the course of investigation.

The accused were arraigned on a six-count charge, according to a statement posted on ICPC’s website.

Details

In the suit marked SS/213c/2024, ICPC accused Ms Abdulkarim and Mr Boyi of conspiring to forge a letter of “Notification of Appointment” to the post of Chief Lecturer on COMPCASS 14 dated 1 January 2017.

“Their alleged forgery contradicts the provisions of sections 59(1) and 60(2) of the Sokoto State Penal Code Law,” ICPC said.

Count one of the charges reads: “That you Hauwa’u Gimbiya Mukhtar Abdulkarim (F) and Abdullah Boyi (M) sometimes in the year 2023 or thereabout at Sokoto within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, conspired to do an illegal act to wit: forgery of a letter of “Notification for Appointment” to the Post of Chief Lecturer on COMPCASS 14 with effect from 1st January, 2017 and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 59(1) and punishable under section 60(2) of the Sokoto State Penal Code Law, 2019.”

Defendants plead ‘not guilty’

The duo, however, pleaded not guilty to all six charges read to them. The counsel for the defendants, Muhammad Aliyu and Diri Mohammed, requested reasonable bail terms due to their clients’ cooperation during the investigation and their established positions.

The ICPC counsel, Suleiman Ahmad, did not oppose this.

However, Mr Ahmad sought a trial date, noting that the commission was prepared to present witnesses and evidence.

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The trial judge, Muhammad Sambo, granted the defendants bail based on the condition that they provide two sureties who are residents of Sokoto State and each sign a N1 million bond.

The next hearing has been scheduled for 21 November.