By Olamilekan FAWAS
Justice Opeyemi Oke, the Chief Judge of Lagos State, on Tuesday vowed to prosecute Mr Edward Oseghale,
a lawyer, who was nabbed by police at the premises of Surulere Magistrates’ Court for allegedly forging a court judgment.
Oseghale allegedly forged a judgment purportedly given by Mrs Toluwalase Abayomi, the Magistrate of Court 4 , Surulere Magistrates’ Court.
The forged judgment pertained to a landlord and tenancy case.
The accused, who was the counsel to the landlord, used the alleged false judgment to evict a tenant.
He was, however, caught “red handed” when the tenant’s lawyer came to the Surulere Magistrates’ Court to verify the authenticity
of the judgment.
Addressing newsmen, the Chief Judge, who was represented by Mrs Taiwo Olatokun, the Chief Registrar of the Lagos State Judiciary,
said the forgery of court documents was rampant in the state.
“The issue of false judgments, rulings and orders have become a source of great embarrassment to the Lagos State Judiciary.
“We have gotten emails from various embassies as well as countries like the United Kingdom and the United States requesting to
confirm the authenticity of some of these documents.
“In a lot of instances, they turn out to be false,”she said.
The Chief Registrar threw more light on the events that led to Oseghale’s arrest.
She said: “We had a report that a supposed defendant asked for the Certified True Copy (CTC) of a judgment.
“He (the defendant) produced what he had and the Magistrate in this case realised there is a fake suit number in the document.
“The lawyer involved (Oseghale) also had another matter in another court which had the same suit number, but different dates
and we also confirmed that there was no such matter before that court.
“The false judgment also had the the stamp of the Assistant Chief Registrar, who admitted that she had not signed the document.”
Olatokun said the Chief Judge of Lagos is keen to prosecute those caught falsifying court documents to serve as a deterrent to
other perpetrators.
“The matter is already in the hands of the police and we will ensure that he is prosecuted, the officers of the Lagos State Judiciary
who are involved are willing to testify against him.
“This is a serious matter, it is painful to the Chief Judge, because some of these forged documents have been acted upon abroad.
“The lawyer (Oseghale) would have gotten away with it if the defence counsel had not come to court.
“I have been a victim of individuals forging court documents, my signature has been forged on some of these documents,”
Olatokun said.
The Chief Registrar said that the Chief Judge had introduced the seal on affidavits issued by the High Courts in Lagos with a
view to combating the menace of false court documents.
“We have introduced the use of a seal, even though the seal is now being forged, the original one has a distinct feature.
“When placed under a light, parts of the seal will turn blue, that will prove its authenticity,” she said.
The Lagos State Judiciary did not give further details on the landlord and tenancy case in which Oseghale
allegedly forged the judgment evicting the tenant.
“We do not want to jeopardise the investigations of the police,”Olatokun said.
