Following incessant allegations of cer­tificate forgery by members of the National Assembly, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has challenged the Clerk of the assembly and its lead­ership to invite independ­ent forensic experts to verify the certificates ten­dered by members of both chambers before running for offices.
In reaction to alleged fake certificates in wide circulation in the N/A with the latest allegations linked to Senator Andy Uba and Dino Melaye, HURIWA said it has become a na­tional emergency to verify the authenticity of the aca­demic certificates of mem­bers and staff of the nation’s apex legislative institution.
It stated that in both chambers, over half a dozen members have ei­ther been dismissed by the courts over certificate forgery or the matters are pending before different courts in Uyo and Jos.
The rights group in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the Na­tional Media Affairs Di­rector, Miss Zainab Yusuf, affirmed that certificate forgery which is a grave crime has posed some of the most disturbing inter­national embarrassments to Nigeria.
‘’We hereby call on the leadership of the National Assembly and the Clerk, Mr Sani Omolori to acti­vate mechanisms by way of inviting independent forensic investigators to conduct transparent, open, and rapid verifica­tion of all the academic certificates being paraded by both the members of the National Assembly and the bureaucracy.” - The Authority