AGF To Prosecute Law Lecturer & Law Student Involved In Alleged Malpractice During Recent Bar Final Exams

The office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice is set to prosecute two persons Pascal Aboh (a lawyer) and Idoko Odeh, for impersonation at the Nigerian Law School, Abuja in May 2022.

In a suit marked FCT/BW/CR/35/22, which was made available to journalists on Tuesday, Idoko Odeh and Paschal Aboh, were mentioned as 1st and 2nd defendants respectively, with five charges bordering on criminal conspiracy, forgery and impersonation.

Aboh, a suspended law lecturer at the University of Calabar, was arrested for allegedly impersonating and re-sitting an exam for a student at the Nigerian Law School in Abuja.

The law lecturer was initially suspected to have written the examination for Mrs Alami Ayade, the wife of Frank Ayade, a younger brother to the Cross River State Governor, Prof Ben Ayade, but the charge sheet revealed that Odeh allegedly conspired with Aboh to forge an identity card that was used in sitting for exams for one Orekoya Kayode, and not Mrs Ayade, according to the charge sheet.

Mrs Ayade had consistently denied any involvement with the defendants, noting that she sat for her law school examination, which was held in May 2022, from the start to finish.

In the charge sheet filed by the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, M.B. Abubakar, on behalf of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, at the Abuja High Court, the defendants were charged for forgery, contrary to section 363 of the penal code law and punishable under section 364 of the law.

It read in part, “Pursuant to section 104 and 379 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, both the first and second defendants were allegedly involved in criminal conspiracy contrary to section 96 of the Penal Code Law and punishable under section 97 of the law.

“That you Idoko Odeh, adult male of Nigerian Law School Bwari, Abuja, and Pascal Bekongfe Aboh, adult male of 47, between 9th to 12th of May 2022, at a Nigerian Law School in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did conspire, amongst yourselves, to forge Nigeria Law School student identity card to reflect the name of Orekoya Kayode, but having on it the passport photograph of Barrister Pascal Bekongfe Aboh, and you thereby committed an offence.

“That you, Idoko Odeh, while being a staff of the ICT Department, of the Nigerian Law School, did forge application to re-sit the bar final examinations form Council of Legal Education, Nigerian Law School, Bwari campus, Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court.”

Hearing on the matter is expected to commence in September after the case is assigned to a judge.