Nigerian Lawyer and Human Rights Advocate, Dele Farotimi has said that it is not a Nigerian or Yoruba thing to forge certificates.
Farotimi stated this during an interview with Arise News on Thursday.
The legal practitioner said the truth in Nigeria has become subjective, and that Nigerians have a duty to ensure that the truth does not become transactional.
He lamented that the issue of forgery relating to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu dented the image of the country.
Farotimi argued that the CSU registrar made it clear that the records submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) does not come from them.
Farotimi said, “I am of the firm opinion that it is not a Nigerian thing to forge documents. Regardless of what the CSU registrar might have to say on the subject, it is not a Nigerian thing. The CSU was unambiguous in making clear that the diploma submitted to INEC does not emanate from it, that I think is about the only thing of legal consequence that concerns me as far as I am concerned, but when you now look to the broader issue of honesty, integrity, the image of the country, it doesn’t look good.”
Speaking further, he said, “An Omoluabi comes with qualifications, it comes with qualification of integrity, of honesty, of pedigree, of history, that is why we have Oriki in Yoruba land, a person will be praised to his progeny…. And then the person must earn the tag of the Omoluabi, he must act with integrity, he must deal equitably with other people, he must be fair in his dealings with people.
To now appropriate Omoluabi to everybody who answers the name of a Yoruba person even when the person has not acted in a manner that is suggestive of the person having the quality that will make the person answer to the name of Omoluabi, I reject that in its entirety. I am an Omoluabi, I am a Yoruba man, and I have not forged my certificate. So, it is not a Nigerian thing, and it is certainly not a Yoruba thing, and it is not an Omoluabi thing to do that.”
