Lagos CJ pledges to prosecute lawyer accused of forging judgment

The Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Opeyemi Oke has promised to prosecute a lawyer, Mr Edward Oseghale, who was allegedly caught by the police on the premises of the Surulere Magistrates’ Court forging a court judgment. Oseghale was allegedly caught forging a judgment purportedly given by Magistrate Toluwalase Abayomi of Surulere magistracy.

The forged judgment pertained to a landlord and tenancy case and as the landlord’s counsel, he used the false judgment to eject a tenant. He was however caught ‘red handed’ when the tenant’s counsel came to the Surulere Magistrates’ Court to verify the authenticity of the judgment.

While speaking with the newsmen, the CJ who was represented by Mrs Taiwo Olatokun, the Chief Registrar of the Lagos State Judiciary said the forgery of court documents has become rampant in the state. “The issue of false judgments, rulings and orders has 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.

Olatokun said that the Chief Judge of Lagos is keen to prosecute those caught falsifying court documents to serve as a strong deterrent to other perpetuators.“The matter is already in the hands of the police and we will ensure that he is prosecuted and the officers of the Lagos State Judiciary who are involved are willing to testify against him.

“This is a serious matter that is painful to the Chief Judge, because some of these forged documents have been acted upon abroad. “The suspect 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,” she added.

The Chief Registrar said that to combat the menace of false court documents, the Chief Judge had introduced seals on affidavits issued by the High Courts in Lagos.“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. So that proves its authenticity,” she said.