Auditor General of the Federation hopeful sentenced to 2 years in prison for forging ICAN certificate

Lebi-Ayodele James, a staff of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation has been sentenced to two years in prison for forging the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria certificate (ICAN) certificate by an FCT High Court sitting in Jabi on Friday.

The judge, Justice Yusuf Halilu, who did not give the convict an option to pay a fine, ordered him to pay N100,000 in restitution.

The Judge said that the convict would have risen to the position of the Auditor General of the Federation with a forged certificate in the nearest future if the forgery had not been discovered.

According to Halilu, the sentence will serve as a lesson to the convict and others who procure fake certificates and those who might intend to engage in such act in the future.

“The convict knew full well that he never had ICAN certificate. He forged the certificate and eventually got elevated from Executive officer to a Senior Auditor.

“In a country where securing government employment is a huge challenge, and with the army of graduates who have truly earned better certificate but remained unemployed.

“Government should scrutinise all employees in her pay role to ensure only those who deserve to be gainfully employed are employed.

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“The convict shall serve his term in Keffi Prison,” Halilu ordered.

The prosecution, Mr Agbili Ezenwa, in March, presented the forged certificate and the application letter to the Director of Admin and Human Resources in the auditor general’s office as evidence.

Ezenwa said that the convict wrote the application letter requesting to be converted and upgraded from the position of an Executive officer to that of a Senior Auditor.