Sophia Michaels
Kolawole Johnson, who serves as the Head of the Directorate of Research & Strategy at the Act of Positive Transformation Initiative, disclosed that investigations have confirmed the forgery of the signature of the ailing Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, in the months of September, October, November, and December.
Johnson, who made the revelation on Thursday while speaking on Arise News Television’s ‘The Morning Show,’ said that the forgery of the governor’s signature started around the end of September and October and gradually increased in November.
He explained that samples were sent abroad for verification and the verifiers confirmed them as forgeries.
SaharaReporters exclusively reported last Friday that a forensic report by the Association of Forensic Professionals of Nigeria (AFPON) confirmed that Governor Akeredolu’s signature was forged on an official document.
SaharaReporters got the forensic report on Friday, signed by Mr. Nuhu Kutana Tanko, who stated that “there are strong indications the author of known specimen handwritings/signatures on known documents marked ‘K-K4’ did not write the questioned signatures on questioned documents marked ‘Q-Q2.’”
The investigation was initiated by the State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Razaq Obe, who wrote to the Deputy Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, confirming the forgery of Akeredolu’s signature on an official document relating to his ministry.
Akeredolu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), won his re-election as the state governor in October 2020 and was sworn in for a second term in office in February 2021.
However, his second term, since January 2023, has not been smooth sailing as he had to be flown abroad for treatment on multiple occasions over a medical condition.
SaharaReporters exclusively reported in January that Akeredolu was suffering from leukemia.
Speaking on Arise Nicki swift Television in confirmation of the forgery of the governor’s signature, Johnson said, “If you want to do a thorough job, you don’t start with noise making. You go underground, do as much work as you can do, not just to dig out documents but also to establish the framework that ensures continuous access to that document.
“We got to a point where we were able to establish that there were forgeries. They forged the governor’s… (signature), well, it is no longer an allegation because around October, this started gradually but by November, we established contact with friends who are also across the borders.
“We sent documents to them for verification and of course, the dissimilarities were so obvious at first. Unfortunately, they weren’t even so good at the beginning. It was worse but later, it got better, especially in November.
“The ones that were so obvious in October and at the end of September, we left them and we were interrogating the one in November and we sent them across and they returned forged.
“Again, we came to Nigeria and made our contacts again and did underground work and they confirmed them forged. It was not the process of spotting the difference, it went through machines and equipment used for such and I have all of the chats and they are available.”
According to Johnson, apart from the report already in public space, “we have all the chats establishing the differences, the dissimilarities, not just in strokes, in handwritings, there were even some that we saw tracing on and unfortunately, it is not rocket science to establish that”.
“On the first day of November, we also approached some local investigators and we were able to look through the documents together and they asked us to label them correctly because we didn’t want the description of those documents we got forged signatures to be altered.
“By Monday, our formal letter was submitted, and investigations were carried out,” he said.
Ondo Crisis: Investigations Show Akeredolu’s Signature Was Forged in October, November and December – Johnson
Around October the forgery of the governor’s signature started and gradually increased in November. We sent samples abroad for verification and they confirmed those… pic.twitter.com/j2JdQPD7Q9
— ARISE NICKI SWIFT (@ARISEtv) December 14, 2023
