A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja on Wednesday convicted and sentenced the provost of Adonai Advanced Institute of Management, Samson Orijugo, to three years’ imprisonment for forging a notification of result on the letterhead of Lagos State University.
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Justice Modupe Nico-Clay convicted Orijugo on a two-count charge of forgery, holding that the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The court found that Orijugo, in 2015 at Badagry, forged a notification of result issued to a student, John Chibuzor Okoro, using LASU letterhead to falsely represent that Adonai Institute was affiliated with LASU.
Orijugo was arraigned on December 2, 2021, pleaded not guilty, and the trial began on March 8, 2022.
The prosecution, led by Mrs T. Olanrewaju-Daud, called three witnesses and tendered seven exhibits, while Orijugo testified in his defence.
In her judgment, Justice Nico-Clay held that the notification of the result tendered before the court was issued by the convict and was forged.
She relied on evidence establishing that Adonai Institute had no affiliation with LASU, contrary to the representations made to the student and his mother.
The first prosecution witness, Patience Okoro, the student’s mother, testified that Orijugo introduced himself as the provost of a Benin Republic-based institution affiliated with LASU.
She said he issued her son a notification of result on LASU letterhead after completing his studies.
Okoro told the court that she met Orijugo on May 12, 2012, in a commercial bus while returning from Iyana Oba Market.
According to her, Orijugo spoke about Adonai University, gave her flyers, and claimed the institution was affiliated with LASU.
Okoro explained that she expressed doubts because she was a LASU graduate and had never heard of such an affiliation, but Orijugo insisted that the university was one of the best in the Benin Republic and affiliated with LASU.
Okoro later visited Orijugo’s residence with her son, where he showed them transcripts translated into English on LASU letterhead.
Okoro further testified that she made independent enquiries at the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja, where officials said the school was recognised but were unaware of any English or French sections.
Okoro said she subsequently enrolled her son through Orijugo and made several payments for tuition, medical fees, mobilisation, and convocation, often without receipts.
According to her, Orijugo repeatedly promised that her son’s certificate would be issued during convocation but failed to deliver it.
She said it was later discovered that the documents were fake when her son sought employment in 2018, an experience that led to severe psychological trauma for him.
Another prosecution witness, Ojei Oziegbe, an Assistant Chief State Counsel at the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, testified that she wrote to LASU during the investigation and received a reply confirming that Adonai Institute of Management was not affiliated with LASU.
The letters were admitted in evidence.
In rejecting the defence, the court held that the case was not about the issuance of a degree certificate but the forgery of the notification of result, which Orijugo admitted he handed to the student.
The judge also dismissed the argument that the prosecution ought to have called a LASU official, ruling that the documentary evidence from LASU was sufficient.
“The document was presented as genuine on an LASU letterhead to create the false impression of affiliation,” the court held, adding that Orijugo, as an administrator of the institution, knew the claim was false.
Justice Nico-Clay consequently convicted Orijugo on both counts and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment.
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