WAEC Official Nabbed Over Certificate Forgery

Men of the Lagos State Police Command have nabbed an official of the West African Examinations Council, WAEC, Odulaja Adekunle, for allegedly assisting students to process fake WAEC results.

Adekunle, a Grade Level 05 officer at the Administrative Department at WAEC head office in Yaba, Lagos State, Nigeria, was arrested yesterday by operatives of the Special Fraud Unit, SFU, Milverton Street, Ikoyi, Lagos State.

According to the police, the suspect processed a fake WAEC certificate for Yusuf Suleiman who used it to apply for a student visa at the Canadian Deputy High Commission office.

The high commission officials invited the police to arrest him when they discovered the certificate he presented was fake.

During interrogation, Suleiman mentioned Adekunle as the person who procured the fake result for him.

“I lost my original WAEC certificate but still have the original statement of result and other degrees. When I approached Wole Ipadeola about the missing original certificate, he took me to Adekunle at the WAEC office in Yaba to help me get a replacement and they collected N20,000 from me. They assured me of a genuine certificate since he is working there.

“When I submitted the certificate to the High Commission office, the officials told me the certificate  was fake.”

In his confession to the police, Adekunle said: “ Ipadeola gave me N10,000 to process a new WAEC certificate for Suleiman and since it is not possible to get a second certificate through WAEC office, I went to Oluwole in Lagos Island to forge the certificate for N7,000. I only made N3,000 from the transaction. I have served WAEC for 12 years on Grade Level 05.

“I am now begging the police to help me so that I will not lose my job and I promise not to do it again.”

—Paul Iyoghojie