Nigeria's One Law For The Common Man Another For The Elite: As Abuja Court Sentence Man For Forging ICAN Certificate

An Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Yusuf Haliru, over the weekend, sentenced, an employee of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation,  Lebi-Ayodele James, to two years imprisonment for forging the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (ICAN)  certificate which he used to gain employment. This is coming weeks after Nigeria's Finance Minister, Kemi Adesoun was exposed for forging NYSC certificate with which she used to gain employment.

An angry Justice Haliru said Lebi-Ayodele would have risen to the position of Auditor General of the Federation with a forged certificate in future if the forgery had not been discovered. 

“The convict knew that he never had ICAN certificate. He forged the certificate and got elevated from executive officer to senior auditor. He will serve his term at Keffi Prison,” the judge said.

The convict was arraigned on a three-count charged by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on March 26th. The offences are: Forgery of certificate, contrary to Section 25(1)(a) and punishable under Section 25(1)(b) of the ICPC Act 2000 and being in possession of a forged document, contrary to Section 368 of the Penal Code CAP 532, Laws of the FCT Nigeria 2006. He was also charged with giving false information, an offense contrary to and punishable under Section 140 of the Penal Code CAP 53, Laws of the FCT Nigeria 2006.

Lebi-Ayodele's forged certificate was discovered when he applied for promotion from an executive officer to a senior auditor.