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Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, In Certificate Forgery Scandal
Posted: November 27, 2010 - 20:17
Posted by siteadmin

caption: Gabriel Suswam in the middle
By SaharaReporters, New York
SaharaReporters is in possession of documents indicating that Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, may have forged the West Africa School Certificate with which he was purportedly admitted to the University of Lagos to study law.

The contentious certificate is also one of the supporting documents the governor submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission in the run-up to his election as governor in 2007.

Suswam, who is coordinator of President Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign in the North-central region, was supposedly admitted to UNILAG on the basis of a 1982 General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level certificate with candidate number: 07652151.

The original certificate portrayed him as having passed five subjects, the subjects passed were without Mathematics and English, which is a pre-requisite subject for admission into law programmes in Nigerian universities.

However, while the governor’s traducers were still wondering how he managed to sneak into the University of Lagos without appropriate entry requirements, Suswam wrote to WAEC in 2005, claiming that his certificate was missing. He attached photocopies of the purportedly missing certificate, a police extract and affidavit of loss of certificate to the letter.

Shortly afterwards, the governor claimed WAEC sent him a replacement for his lost certificate. The new certificate came with the same candidate number (07652151), with his passport photograph embossed on it.

However, the new certificate had significant changes indicating that Suswam passed "English and Mathematics", significantly raising the possibility that the new document is “a complete forgery” according to Suswan critics.

Already, Terver Kakih, a governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party in Benue state, has asked a Federal High Court in Makurdi to order the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Crimes Commission (ICPC) to investigate the alleged forgery and other allegations of financial impropriety and embezzlement levelled against the governor in various petitions.

Joined in the suit, in which Kakih asked the West African Examination Council to withdraw and cancel the forged certificate, were the EFCC, the ICPC, INEC, the Benue State House of Assembly, the Benue state Attorney General, and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.


When the case came up for hearing last Thursday, Suswam and the other defendants failed to show up in court, neither did any counsels represent them. Justice Abimbola Ogie therefore ordered the parties to appear on the next adjourned date, December 3rd, 2010.

Not too long ago, one Chigozie Ukpabi squealed on Suswam, saying he helped the governor to falsify the results.

The governor denied the allegation as 'baseless' and the handiwork of 'political opponents'. Ukpabi is now being detained at the Nigerian Police Force headquarters in Abuja, reportedly on Suswam’s orders.

There are also doubts over whether Suswam really graduated from the Nigerian Law school or if he was called to the Nigerian Bar. In the third edition of the Nigerian Lawyers Directory published by the Council for Legal Education, there are two completely different entries for Suswam. The first said he was called to the bar on December 5, 1990 while the second portrayed him as having been admitted on June 8, 1991.

Meanwhile, several political activists from Benue State, are calling on anti-corruption agencies to get to the bottom of the case and “save Benue from this fraud of a governor”.

“As the matter continues to generate debates within Benue state, attempts by the governor and his aides to douse the flames of forgery and corruption allegations have created a lot more suspicion,” one of our sources, said in an email. “The governor in different interviews, at different times, has given conflicting reports on the issues of his WAEC certificate. At some point he claims his original certificate was burnt in a building. On another occasion, he has given different reasons for the loss of his certificate. His constant, albeit weak, denials continue to fuel suspicions.”

He added, “I am therefore appealing to you that you help the people of Benue look into this matter. While some of us have limited access to conduct proper investigations on this, we are strongly convinced the governor has a case to answer regarding this grand forgery.”

Yet another activist said, “Gabriel Suswam claims to have read law from the University of Lagos, but this claim too is becoming doubtful as no one except him seems to know any UNILAG course mates of his or any of his barrister contemporaries who were called to the bar the same year as him.

“This is a governor whose corrupt acts know no bounds. You will notice that he is desperately involved in Goodluck Jonathan's presidential bid, a move many interpret as 'political survival' game. He hopes Jonathan will help sweep his scandals under the carpet for political gains”

http://www.saharareporters.com/news-page/benue-state-governor-gabriel-suswam-certificate-forgery-scandal

This is actually kind of major. I thought this governor was supposed to be one of the good guys.

Sahara reporters is on fire.They are really making some bucks this political season.

This SR sef. It is has always been a 'Ribadu' of the cyber airways.
Looks like someone has purchased SEVERAL land plots for Xmas presents for them in Abuja.

So?

Get overrrit.
Did not stop Asiwaju Tinubu.
90% of Nigerians have fake results.
We will not even count those who sleep with lecturers to get that degree of a thing.
Or the area boys who pay lectureres in cash or kind to scale through those rat holes of universities all over Nigeria.

Next time screen your candidates before imposiing them on Nigeria.
That was how Ibori became a 2-term governor with ex-convict records inside and outside Nigeria.
Why now?
Abeg, make we hear sointin. This is very normal in Nigeria.

Did he not graduate from the Law school afterall?
Then that means the WAEC was the fruadulent party for wrongly failing him.
Or did he buy the 'law degree', if he ever graduated?

The man has passed law school, has been called to bar eons ago and we are here talking about WAEC results.

Na wa for WACO o.

Yet another activist said, “Gabriel Suswam claims to have read law from the University of Lagos, but this claim too is becoming doubtful as no one except him seems to know any UNILAG course mates of his or any of his barrister contemporaries who were called to the bar the same year as him.

“This is a governor whose corrupt acts know no bounds. You will notice that he is desperately involved in Goodluck Jonathan's presidential bid, a move many interpret as 'political survival' game. He hopes Jonathan will help sweep his scandals under the carpet for political gains”

Who cares?

All these distractions. I only have my eyes on the chief corrupting officer OBJ. I am not taking my eyes off of him.
Nice try.

Agents of darkness. May your roads be dark and slippery always. May you always fall and never get up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Suswam

Gabriel Torwua Suswam is a Nigerian politician who became governor of Benue State.[1]

[edit] Background
Gabriel Suswam was born on the 15th November, 1964 in Anyiin, Logo Local Government Area of Benue State.

[size=16pt]In 1986 he was admitted into the Law Faculty of the University of Lagos. He obtained an LL.B degree in 1989, and the BL Certificate from the Nigerian Law School, Lagos in 1990. He was called to the Bar that year. He worked for other law firms from 1990–1994, while continuing his studies. In 1994 he launched his own law firm.[/size] [2]

[edit] Political career
He ran for office in the House of Representatives in 1999 for the Katsina-Ala/Ukum/Logo Federal Constituency, and was elected on the People's Democratic Party (PDP) platform.[3] He was appointed Chairman of the House Services Committee, and later Chairman, House Committee on FCT. He ran again, and was reelected in 2003. On July 3, 2003, he was appointed Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, then in August, 2005 he was appointed Chairman, House Committee on Power.[1]

In April 2007 he was elected Governor of Benue State.

In November 2009, he spoke in favor of automatic re-election of all political office holders who exemplified themselves in the discharge of their responsibilities.[4] In a separate interview, he said politicking was the major factor militating against the development of the state since its creation.[5]

Hmmm.

All these with a fake WAEC result?

Na wa for WEAC o!
Infact, God punish WAEC.




So not one classmate from all these wiki-leaks can testify. This is going to be fun.

Too bad I am off for 6 weeks.
I shall be jobless for the remainder of the year and the half of January 2011.
Please, bear with me.
I have found a new gainless employment on NL.
Bloodily addictive, reading all these riddles and jokes.

Jet lagging does not help matters, for I wake up at strange hours of the day.

If true, this is serious stuff and the government must act.