An Ex-member of the Kwara State Working Committee of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has been fingered in an alleged certificate forgery.
The NUJ ex-official, Mr. Gbenga Ishola was said to have forged a National Open University of Nigeria Bachelor of Science (Bsc) degree certificate in Mass Communication which he presented to the National body of the Union to validate his membership in the online registration exercise this year.
He was said to have in collaboration with the Chairman of Kwara State Council of the Union; Mr Abdulateef ‘Lanre Ahmed used the certificate to become an ex-officio member of the Executive of the Union.
Mr. Ishola who according to findings also used the certificate to become the Vice Chairman of the State Information Chapel of the Kwara NUJ, as well as using same to secure admission into the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ), Ilorin study centre where he is currently enroled for a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism programme.
However, investigation from NOUN’s online student portal records as of 1 August 2025 indicates that Mr. Ishola registered under matriculation number NOU145338383 is still an active student of the university.
Records further revealed that he was admitted in 2015, got to 300 level by 2018, but has since abandoned the programme after failing eight courses, resulting in a cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 1.6 well below the graduation threshold.
The NUJ constitution Article 3 among other things stipulates that for anyone to be admitted as a member, such individual must possess a minimum of first degree or Higher National Diploma in Journalism, Mass Communication or Media Studies obtained from a recognized educational institution.
However in 2022 he submitted the NOUN certificate with number 0018520-N, to the Kwara council of the NUJ, with a B.Sc. (Hons) Second Class Upper Division in Mass Communication from NOUN.
He was subsequently admitted as a full member and later appointed as an ex-officio by the council chairman Abdulateef Ahmed, which automatically makes him a member of the State Working Committee, as a compensation having served as the Director General of the Abdulateef Ahmed campaign in 2021 but could not participate in the said election due to his ineligibility as at the time.
He was however later forced to resign after issues were raised at a congress of the union after he was made the acting state chairman of the NIPR in Kwara which is at variance with the NUJ constitution, which bars an individual holding an executive position in the union to hold similar position in another union.
He however participated in the Union’s State election of 31 July 2024 after he was cleared by the Credentials Committee headed by Mr. Abdulhameed Alaye while many eligible members were barred from taking part in the election.
Certificate forgery a crime in Nigeria.
Section 463 of the Criminal Code stipulates a three-year imprisonment sentence for forgery. While Sections 362 to 364 of the Penal Code address forgery offenses, with penalties reaching up to 14 years of imprisonment.
The Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act also known as the ICPC Act, similarly covers forgery and related offenses, with penalties that may include imprisonment.
The severity of the punishment can also depend on the specific circumstances and the court’s discretion, potentially including fines or a combination of imprisonment and fines.
Contacted via his WhatsApp handle, Mr. Ishola denied the allegations, describing them as untrue. He said the council chairman had also reached out to him, and he maintained his innocence, promising to provide more details later.
Efforts to reach Mr. Ahmed for comments proved abortive as he refused to respond to neither the calls nor messages.
However the council’s immediate past Secretary, Comrade Omotayo Ayanda while reacting to the development told this medium that he had no prior suspicion that the certificate might be fake when it was submitted to him while he was in office.
His words; “honestly, I never suspected that Gbenga Ishola could submit a forged certificate to the NUJ. Based on the document he presented, we admitted him as a full member. If your allegation is true, it is indeed disappointing and unfortunate”.
