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 (LASU).
Justice Modupe Nico-Clay found Orijugo guilty on a two-count charge of forgery, ruling that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The court held that Orijugo, in 2015 at Badagry, forged a notification of result purportedly issued to a student, John Chibuzor Okoro, using LASU letterhead to falsely present Adonai Institute as an affiliate of the university.
Orijugo was arraigned on December 2, 2021, pleaded not guilty to the charges and stood trial from March 8, 2022.
At the trial, the prosecution, led by Mrs T. Olanrewaju-Daud, called three witnesses and tendered seven exhibits, while the defendant testified in his own defence.
In her judgment, Justice Nico-Clay held that the notification of result presented before the court emanated from the convict and was forged, noting that evidence before the court clearly showed that Adonai Institute had no affiliation with LASU, contrary to the representations allegedly made to the student and his mother.
One of the prosecution witnesses, Patience Okoro, the student’s mother, told the court that Orijugo introduced himself as the provost of a Benin Republic-based institution affiliated with LASU and later issued her son a notification of result on LASU letterhead after his studies.
She narrated how she first met Orijugo on May 12, 2012, in a commercial bus while returning from Iyana Oba Market, where he spoke about Adonai University, distributed flyers and claimed the institution was affiliated with LASU.
Okoro said she initially doubted the claim, being a LASU graduate herself, but Orijugo insisted that the school was affiliated with LASU and ranked among the best institutions in the Benin Republic.
She added that Orijugo later showed them transcripts translated into English on LASU letterhead at his residence and that she subsequently enrolled her son through him, making several payments for tuition, medical fees, mobilisation and convocation, often without receipts.
According to her, Orijugo repeatedly assured them that her son’s certificate would be issued during convocation, but failed to do so.
She said the documents were eventually discovered to be fake in 2018 when her son sought employment, an incident that caused him severe psychological trauma.
Another prosecution witness, Ojei Oziegbe, an Assistant Chief State Counsel at the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, testified that during investigation she wrote to LASU and received a response confirming that Adonai Institute of Management was not affiliated with the university. The correspondence was admitted in evidence.
In dismissing the defence, the court ruled that the case was not about the issuance of a degree certificate but about the forgery of a notification of result, which Orijugo admitted he handed to the student.
The court also rejected the argument that a LASU official ought to have been called as a witness, holding that the documentary evidence from the university 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.