Pursuant to the existing collaboration between the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences (ICPC), two Staff of the FRSC have been arrested for certificate forgery following a petition by the Corps Marshal, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi to the anti-corruption Commission.
The two personnel of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Edwin Oyuwe and Achigili Ogoli, presented fake Bachelor of Science degree certificates, during one of the Corps’ conversion course exercise from non commissioned Officers to commissioned Officers cadre.
In the course of the investigation, the Anti-Corruption giants also arrested two members of a certificate forgery syndicate, Mr. Sunday Okpara and Abdulrahman Razak, who were discovered to have been instrumental in forging the certificate bearing full details of the University of Abuja for the two officials of FRSC.
Prior to the petition being forwarded by the Corps Marshal to the Commission, the Corps had contacted the University of Abuja to ascertain the authenticity of the certificates which the school confirmed that the degree certificates were forged.
The petition alleged that the two officials had approached the Management of FRSC with forged Bachelor of Science degrees and fake statements of result in Public Administration, from the University of Abuja, to be upgraded to officer cadre.
Before their arrest by ICPC, the culprits, Onyuwe and Ogoli, maintained that the documents were originals approved by the University, having allegedly paid N500,000 bribe to a staff of the University to falsify records in order to back their claim.
In the course of investigation, the Commission established that the two FRSC officials were students of the Distance Learning programme of the University. However, due largely to poor performance which translated into poor results, they could not graduate. Evidence of these discoveries were contained in various documents from the University indicating that they had multiple carry-overs in the courses registered.
It was in the quest to get graduated by any means possible that they decided to approach the forgery syndicate and lured them to prepare the forged degree certificates for them to present to their organization for upgrade of their cadre.
Further investigation revealed that a total amount of N430,000 was found to have been paid to the syndicate for the forgery, with Onyuwe paying N230,000 while Ogoli paid N200,000 respectively.
In addition, a member of the syndicate, Razak, who claimed to be a printer, told ICPC operatives that he used an original certificate from the university obtained from a friend to perfect the forgery. Other members of the syndicate include Matthias Ibitiye, Usman Danjuma, and Uchenna Ifeonu.
Upon receipt of the outcome of the investigation, the Corps Marshal has communicated the anti-graft agency to charge them to court at the conclusion of investigation and ensure that the full weight of the law is served so that others who might want to indulge in such criminal act would desist from it.
This exercise which is part of the success story of the collaboration between ICPC and FRSC to weed out corruption from the Corps has overtime produced desired results following the arrest of over 70 Operatives, and the Corps is committed to this course and will not be deterred.
