A major certificate forgery scandal has hit the Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, as the institution announced the suspension of five staff members, including a Deputy Registrar, Dominic Egwuda, over their alleged involvement in a document forgery syndicate.
Naijaonpoint reports that the Rector of the Polytechnic, Professor Salisu Ogbo Usman, who disclosed this during a press conference on Thursday in Lokoja, said Egwuda had absconded and refused to honour the school’s investigative summons.
“Further investigation led to the suspension of five staff members, including a Deputy Registrar, Mr. Dominic Egwuda. He has refused to honour our investigation and is presently on the run,” the Rector said.
Professor Usman explained that the scandal was uncovered after the institution detected multiple forged certificates and result slips carrying fake names and programmes allegedly being circulated within and outside the school.
According to him, four suspects have already been arrested, while the internal investigation revealed that the forgery network involved students, non-students, and dishonest staff members working together to falsify official documents.
“The syndicate involved in the document falsification includes some students, non-students, and a few dishonest staff members of the institution,” Usman said.
How the Forgery Was Discovered
The Rector said the fraudulent activities came to light when one Dansuma Mercy Sunday approached the institution to collect her statement of results, prompting verification by the Admission and ICT Units.
The process led to the arrest of four suspects Abubakar Musa, Adejo Faith, Ademu Rilwanu, and an ex-student identified as Henry Tope, believed to be the mastermind of the forgery ring.
“Their arrest followed intelligence reports and a routine verification exercise carried out by our Admission, ICT, and Security Units in collaboration with law enforcement agencies,” the Rector said.
He revealed that the suspects forged both National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) results, using the fake ND results to gain admission into HND programmes, while others used them to request original certificates.
Usman disclosed that the suspended Deputy Registrar and his collaborators allegedly facilitated the production of forged certificates for non-students.
He cited the case of Amina Mustapha, who appeared alongside Egwuda to collect ND and HND certificates in Computer Science, but was later discovered to have never attended the institution.
“Amina Mustapha appeared alongside a staff member, Dominic Egwuda, to collect ND and HND certificates. Upon scrutiny, discrepancies were noticed, and an investigation revealed that Amina never attended Kogi State Polytechnic. Her matriculation number was non-existent,” he said.
The Rector further disclosed that a staff member in the Exams and Records Unit was found in possession of 30 forged statements of results, alongside fake official stamps, stamp pads, and admission letters discovered in his residence.
Meanwhile, the alleged mastermind of the syndicate, Henry Tope, confessed that he was contacted by one of the arrested suspects to help “process” a forged statement of result.
“Ademu Rilwanu contacted me to process a statement of result for Dansuma Mercy Sunday. I told him the amount was N70,000, and he paid,” Tope reportedly admitted.
The Chief Security Officer of the Polytechnic, Emmanuel Attai, also narrated how the suspects were apprehended, revealing that Abubakar Musa was first intercepted at the school gate with a fake statement of result before the arrest of his accomplices.
“We intercepted one of the suspects at the gate with a forged statement of result. Further investigation led to the arrest of three others and uncovered their collaborators among the staff,” Attai said.
The Rector, Usman, reaffirmed the Polytechnic’s zero tolerance for academic fraud, warning that all those involved, students, staff, or outsiders, would face the full wrath of the law in addition to internal disciplinary measures.
“The Polytechnic will not condone academic fraud, result falsification, or unethical conduct. Anyone found guilty, whether student, staff, or external collaborator, will be dealt with in accordance with the law,” he declared.
The Rector said the management was working closely with security agencies to ensure all culprits, including those who fled, are brought to justice.
As of press time, law enforcement operatives were said to be intensifying efforts to track down the fleeing Deputy Registrar and other suspects linked to the document forgery network.
The institution has also launched an internal audit of its Exams and Records Unit to prevent further manipulation of academic records.
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