A Mandate Threatened By Scandal
By Godfrey Azubike
Monday, May 12, 2008
Samuel Walamam Igrubia membership of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly now threatened over allegation of certificate forgery
An allegation of certificate scandal is currently threatening the mandate of Samuel Walamam Igrubia, a legislator representing Ogbia constituency 111 in the Bayelsa State House of Assembly.
The lid over the allegation was blown open by Dan Igrubia, candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the 2007 House of Assembly polls. The LP candidate who lost to Igrubia in the election had, shortly after the election, gone to the Bayelsa State Election Petition Tribunal to challenge his opponent's eligibility for the election. When the tribunal declared that he did not have a strong case, the petitioner took the matter to the Appeal Court, Port Harcourt. He asked the Appeal Court to order for a re-trial of the case on the ground that there were enough evidence that the lawmaker was involved in certificate forgery. His argument was that the Senior Secondary School Certificate, SSSC, which Igrubia presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as part of his eligibility to stand for the election was forged.
According to him, the legislator's original SSSC showed that he had the following grades: English Language 7, Geography 7, Government 5, Economics 4, Mathematics 3, Physics 7, Chemistry 6, Biology 7, and Agricultural Science 6. But in the forged certificate, Igrubia claimed to have earned the following result: English Language 4, Mathematics 3, Physics 6, Chemistry 6, Biology 7, Economics 4, Agricultural Science 6 and Government 5. He allegedly altered the grades he made in English Language and Physics.
Incidentally, the forged certificate was what he presented to the University of Port Harcourt, UNIPORT, when he was offered admission to read Physics/Electronics in the 1998/99 session. Throughout the four years Igrubia spent at UNIPORT, the institution did not discover the alleged certificate forgery until he graduated with B.Sc Physics/Electronics.
Based on the allegation, the petitioner had also asked UNIPORT to investigate the authenticity of the SSSC with which the lawmaker gained admission.
Acting on the petition, the authorities of UNIPORT had on July 13, 2007 invited Igrubia to appear before its certificate verification panel. The invitation letter was signed by D.D. Otto, deputy registrar, academics, on behalf of the registrar. Although, the letter was delivered to Igrubia at 1 Sangana Street, Mile 1, Diobu, Port Harcourt, his address at the time he gained admission into the university, he failed to honour the invitation. This prompted the university to write him for the second time on September 19, 2007. To ensure that he honoured the invitation; the letter was delivered to him through the Bayelsa State House of Assembly in Yenagoa.
But Igrubia still failed to honour the invitation. Consequently, the certificate verification committee of the university met and with the evidence at its disposal, confirmed that Igrubia's SSSC result was falsified. It, therefore, withdrew the B.Sc degree awarded to the lawmaker. Part of the institution's statement withdrawing the degree from Igrubia reads: "The University Certificate Verification Committee investigated the allegation of falsification of SSCE result by Igrubia Walamam Samuel for admission into the department of physics in 1995/1996 academic year. The committee has confirmed that the result Igrubia Walaman Samuel declared on the certificate of qualification form which he filled in his own hand writing for admission into the department of physics in 1995/1996 academic year was falsified." The statement was signed by M.O. Onyige, its registrar.
Williams Wodi, the school's public relations officer, confirmed the investigation of Igrubia's case by the institution. However, efforts by Newswatch to get Igrubia's reactions to the certificate forgery scandal proved abortive. He rebuffed all attempts by Newswatch to get his own side of the story last week.
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