Lawyer faults Ondo Commissioner’s claim of forgery of Akeredolu’s signature

A lawyer, Femi Emodamori, has faulted the claim made by the Ondo State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Razaq Obe, that the signature of his boss, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, is being forged.

Emodamori, who questioned the authenticity of the claim made by Obe, stated that the series of loopholes in the purported forensic report allegedly carried out on the governor’s signature gave those behind the development out on their motives.

On Friday, Obe raised the alarm about the alleged forgery of the governor’s signature on some documents he received from the office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG).

In a letter addressed to the deputy governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, to alert him to the development, the commissioner revealed that forensic experts had also confirmed the signature to have been forged.

According to the lawyer, in the report, the document with which the forensic analysis of the governor’s signature was carried out was not stated, and the individual or body that requested the analysis is fictitious, which he said cannot be entertained in law.

While emphasising that the Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources might be playing out the ploy of one of the warring parties involved in political doldrums in the state, Emodamori stressed that Obe has for a while not been in the camp of Akeredolu but that of the deputy governor.

Emodamori, who stated that Obe is the first suspect in the alleged forgery of the governor’s signature, maintained that it is only Akeredolu who can say that his signature has been forged.

“Firstly, contrary to the Commissioner’s claim, the purported forensic report names the client who requested the examination as “Act for Positive Transformation Initiative” and not Engr. Rasaq Obe or the Ondo State Commissioner for Energy.

“This means that either the Hon. Commissioner or the purported forensic report is lying about who hired the services of the alleged forensic expert who supposedly produced it.

“I addressed the above observation first, because the source of any documents that a forensic expert claims to have examined is very crucial in determining the issue of forgery.

“And to call a spade a spade, Engr. Rasaq Obe himself would be the number one suspect in the course of such an investigation, while the purported forensic expert would also be very useful to the security agencies.

“The investigation should then be conducted on the owner of the alleged forged signature(s), who is the governor, as he alone could confirm whether his signature was forged on the subject documents or not.”