Kogi poly dismantles Certificate cartels, arrest 4 ,recovers 30 processed certificates.
* Suspends senior officer, Masterminds on the run.
Kogi state polytechnic, said it has successfully dismantled Certificate racketeers with the arrest of Henry Tope, the kingpin and three others for their involvement in the massive certificate scam.
This is just as a Deputy registrar in charge of Exams and Records, (names withheld) has been suspended while a staff , Dominic Egwuda has taken to his heels since the discovery of the scandal.
The Rector of the polytechnic, Prof. Salisu Ogbo Usman disclosed this on Thursday in a Press conference held at the conference hall of the institution in Lokoja.
The Rector noted that before his assumption of office , the academic integrity of the polytechnic was awash in the Media for wrong reasons, owing to organized compromise.
He explained that he took the bull by the horn by changing the Statement of Results template to a more secure version, which has helped to minimize forgery of the certificates.
He added that in a bid to clean the augean table , decided to implement comprehensive and stringent measures which has enhanced quality assurance, stamp out irregularities and curb sharp practices.
According to him , these measures led to the exposure of notorious Sarkin Noma, examination Magic center , where imposters were caught writing examinations with the polytechnic official answers booklets.
Ogbo , however lamented that despite efforts and due diligence put in place to prosecute syndicates, the case has remained unresolved in the court of law for many years, advising Agencies of Government saddled with administration of criminal justice to give bite to their responsibilities to serve as deterrent to others.
He said, despite successes recorded, a frightening dimensions have occurred with the insider collusion in the forging of statement of results and other official documents with disregard to due process and institutional values for pecuniary gains.
He said routine investigations revealed frightening and shocking audacity by perpetrators who would use forged ND certificate to secure HND admission in the same institution and apply for original certificates before the arrest was made.
According to the erudite professor ” These individuals compromised our security arrangements and tempered with security features on our statement of Results. They collude with processors- which Dominic Egwuda featured prominently – to prepare results for individuals who have multiple carry overs but refused to sit for their examinations thereby falsely portraying them as graduates.Such criminal acts represent an assault on the credibility and reputation of our Institution and we have to tackle it headon.
” The recent cases involved Amina Mustapha, who was never our student, but forged our ND and HND certificates and attempted to use same to obtain original certificates in collusion with some members of Examination unit. Mfon Asuquo a student but absconded with multiple carry overs, only to obtain our statement of result aimed to obtain original certificate. Dansuma Mercy Sunday, who connived with Abubakar Musa, Adejoh Faith , Ademu Rilwan and Henry Tope, an ex students to obtain original certificates . The said statement of results presented by Amina Mustapha on scrutiny by the admission unit had discrepancies and on thorough investigation revealed that she never attended Kogi state polytechnic and the matriculation numbers were non existent
“Further investigation led to the suspension of five staff members, including a Deputy Registrar, however, Dominic Egwuda whose name featured prominently in all these saga has refused to honour our invitation and he is currently on the run.
” In another discovery, a staff in the examinations and Records Unit who is already under disciplinary review had in his possession 30 forged statement of results bearing different names and programmes. We also recovered several fake official stamps , stamp pads and admission letters bearing different names and programmes from his residence.” He disclosed.
He reiterated the commitment of the polytechnic to zero tolerance for academic fraud, falsification and all forms of unethical conducts.
While assuring the public , stakeholders and the polytechnic community that quality assurance measures and security mechanisms remain active and uncompromised, he would not relent to expose unwholesome behaviours denting the image of the polytechnic and urge employers and public to report identified infractions to the relevant units.
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