Provost Bags Three-Year Jail Term Over Fake LASU Result Document

A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has sentenced the Provost of Adonai Advanced Institute of Management, Mr. Samson Orijugo, to three years’ imprisonment for forging an academic document purportedly issued by Lagos State University (LASU).

Justice Modupe Nico-Clay delivered the judgment on Wednesday after finding Orijugo guilty on a two-count charge of forgery. The court held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

The court found that Orijugo, sometime in 2015 at Badagry, forged a Notification of Result issued to a student, John Chibuzor Okoro, using the official letterhead of LASU to falsely represent that Adonai Advanced Institute of Management was affiliated with the University.

The Provost was arraigned on December 2, 2021, and pleaded not guilty to the charges. His trial commenced on March 8, 2022.

During the trial, the prosecution team, led by Mrs. T. Olanrewaju-Daud, called three witnesses and tendered seven exhibits in evidence, while Orijugo testified in his own defence.

In her judgment, Justice Nico-Clay held that the Notification of Result presented before the court was issued by Orijugo and was clearly forged.

The judge relied on evidence showing that Adonai Institute had no affiliation with LASU, contrary to the representations made to the student and his mother.

The first prosecution witness, Mrs. Patience Okoro, the student’s mother, told the court that Orijugo introduced himself as the Provost of a Benin Republic-based Institution allegedly affiliated with LASU. She testified that after her son completed his studies, Orijugo issued him a Notification of Result bearing LASU letterhead.

Mrs. Okoro said she met Orijugo on May 12, 2012, in a commercial bus while returning from Iyana Oba Market. According to her, Orijugo spoke extensively about Adonai University, distributed flyers, and claimed that the Institution was affiliated with LASU.

She explained that she initially expressed doubts because she was a LASU graduate and had never heard of such an affiliation. However, she said Orijugo insisted that the Institution was among the best in the Benin Republic and officially linked to LASU.

Mrs. Okoro further told the court that she later visited Orijugo’s residence with her son, where he showed them academic transcripts translated into English on LASU letterhead.

She said she also made independent enquiries at the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja, where officials confirmed that the school was recognised but were unaware of any English or French sections.

Despite her concerns, she enrolled her son through Orijugo and made several payments for tuition, medical fees, mobilisation and convocation, often without receiving receipts.

She testified that Orijugo repeatedly promised that her son’s certificate would be issued during convocation but failed to do so.

According to her, the documents were later discovered to be fake in 2018 when her son sought employment, an experience she said caused him severe psychological trauma.

Another prosecution witness, Mrs. 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 response confirming that Adonai Institute of Management was not affiliated with the University. The correspondence was admitted as evidence.

In rejecting the defence, the court ruled that the case was not about the issuance of a degree certificate but the forgery of a Notification of Result, which Orijugo admitted he personally handed to the student.

The judge also dismissed the argument that the prosecution ought to have called a LASU official as a witness, holding that the documentary evidence obtained from LASU was sufficient.

“The document was presented as genuine on an LASU letterhead to create the false impression of affiliation,” Justice Nico-Clay held, adding that Orijugo, as an administrator of the Institution, knew the claim was false.

The court consequently convicted Orijugo on both counts and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment.