The Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Chiji Collins, has cleared the air on his alleged certificate forgery which has dominated the airwaves, saying that the controversy surrounding his Doctorate degree certificate is caused by detractors who are asking whether his Italian Doctorate certificate is equivalent to that of a Nigerian Doctorate Certificate which is not a criminal offense but can only be interpreted by the National University Commission (NUC).
This is even as he said also that he was duly exempted from service by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), a letter which he has for doubting Thomases.
The Imo Assembly Speaker’s Doctorate and NYSC certificates became the subject of controversy, following allegations of forgery levelled against him by Hon Lawman Duruji, a former member of the Imo State House of Assembly, who represented Ehime Mbano State constituency.
But speaking at a Press briefing in Owerri, on Wednesday, Hon Chiji Collins maintained that he didn’t forge his certificates as claimed by Lawman Duruji, noting that all his academic certificates are authentic and can be verified any day
Explaining further, the Speaker disclosed that those who are using the already cleared issue of his NYSC exemption certificate to accuse him of forgery, were unaware that the same NYSC had issued him an authentic exemption certificate until they dragged him to the Commission in 2019 through a petition they wrote to the Commission in 2019 to investigate him.
He said that at the NYSC headquarters in Abuja, his detractors were shamed when he produced his NYSC exemption certificate which was traced to a file in the Commission, noting also that the Commission allowed him to leave with his certificate after they ran necessary checks on his certificate that proved the authenticity of his NYSC certificate adding that the issuing authority actually authored the certificate to him.
The Speaker explained that after his certificates were confirmed to be authentic, his detractors were not deterred by his innocence but moved into the Media circle to malign and concoct stories he never even heard about before in his life just to misinform the public and damage his character for political and monetary gains.
On his doctorate degree from the Universiita Faculta The Studio Reggio Calabria Italy, the Speaker explained that he has nothing to hide and encouraged the reading public to run a check on the Institution, adding that his credentials are already in the public domain as it was published for public by INEC.
The Speaker also revealed that he has sued Lawman Duruji for the criminal assassination of his character, insisting that Lawman Duruji accused him of bribery and result falsification despite “knowing them to be false, and knowing it would misinform and mislead the general public”.
He disclosed that he went this far to explain for the public to take record and for his detractors to take note and stop brandishing his name around.
“Who feels he is not satisfied with my certificates should go to court where the matter should be legally dealt with and not rumour and allegations” he said.
