Archbishop of the African Church, Rev. Julius Osayande Abbe, has urged the Federal High Court to dismiss a suit by the Lay President, Olubukunola Okunowo.
The plaintiff seeks to restrain Abbe from further acting as the Primate over alleged discrepancies in his Master’s Degree certificate.
Okunowo, a priest in the church who holds the position of reverend, sued Abbe and the Incorporated Trustees of the African Church, of which he is also a member.
But, Abbe, in his statement of defence, told the court that contrary to Okunowo’s allegations, the Lagos State University (LASU) authenticated his Master’s degree certificate and “determined that the matter be foreclosed once and for all”.
He said the authentication was the basis for a motion that was moved and unanimously approved declaring him eligible to vie for the position of Primate after he fully satisfied the Screening Committee’s requirements.
“Notably, the plaintiff was recorded as having been absent with an apology from that meeting,” Abbe said.
The Primate denied any attempt to change or falsify documents relating to his qualification.
“The only issue, if at all there was any, was as to the date written on the first defendant’s Masters degree certificate, which has long been clarified by the issuing body, LASU,” the defendant said.
According to Abbe, LASU stated that he was a post-graduate student in the 1999/2000 academic session, while the transcript “strangely” stated that he was a post-graduate in the 2000/2001 academic session.
LASU had clarified that the effective date a certificate bears will be the date the Senate actually sat, considered and approved the result, notwithstanding the session a person graduated.
The incorporated trustees of the church, in its statement of defence, also informed the court that Abbe completed his programme in LASU in the 1999/2000 session.
The trustees stated: “The plaintiff is focusing excessively on the clerical errors in the LASU transcript while neglecting the clear context of LASU’s letter, and this is an attempt by the plaintiff to mislead the court.”
On the claimant’s allegation of two conflicting Master’s degrees, the second defendant pleaded LASU’s letters in court, in which it clarified that there was a lack of diligence on the part of the administrative staff (Secretary, Post Graduate School).
The Primate averred that the guidelines provided in Section 105 of the Constitution of the African Church 2014 were adhered to strictly and that neither the executive committee nor the general committee sidestepped or suspended any of its provisions.
Abbe told the court that he holds all necessary certifications and qualifications required by the Constitution of the African Church for the position of Primate.
He averred that any alleged discrepancy or errors regarding his qualifications were addressed and resolved by LASU.
He said the plaintiff’s claims disclose the total absence of any merit or purpose sought to be achieved “other than to bring him to disrepute, mockery, lack of public trust and an assault on the integrity and sanctity of the first defendant (Abbe).”
The Primate urged the court to dismiss the suit “for being frivolous, malicious, baseless, vexatious and amounting to an abuse of judicial process”.
Giving further details, Abbe stated that he was admitted for a post-graduate course leading to the award of a Master’s degree in Christian Religious Studies after being cleared by the school as eligible to undergo the post-graduate programme.
He told the court: “The first defendant further avers that at the conclusion of his one-year post-graduate programme in CRS in the Department of Religious Studies, he was awarded a Master’s degree certificate, dated 31/1/2007.
“The first defendant avers that as part of the pre-requisites during the screening stage of the pre-election into the office of Archbishop/Primate, the first defendant submitted to the second defendant his Master’s degree certificate, dated 31/1/2007.
“However, the date on the submitted certificate, that is 31/1/2007, brought confusion as to the correctness of the date stated therein, given that the first defendant’s Master’s degree programme was in the 1999/2000 session.
“The first defendant in a bid to clarify the situation, wrote to the Registrar of LASU, by his letter of 10/12/2014, requesting that the error on the date of his Certificate of Master’s Degree be addressed.
“Upon receipt of the first defendant’s letter of 10/12/2014, the Secretary, Post Graduate School, LASU, by his letter dated 19/1/2015, re-issued a Certificate to the first defendant dated 29/6/2001.
“This was later seen to have been done in error by the Secretary, Post Graduate School, LASU.
“The first defendant avers that he presented the re-issued certificate to the Screening/Election Committee to be able to conclude his screening exercise and be declared eligible to vie for the office of the Archbishop/Primate.
“There was however, still further confusion and controversy in the committee, as there were then two certificates, both issued by LASU, submitted for screening, one dated 31/1/2007 and the other dated 29/6/2001, creating unnecessary delay in concluding the first defendant’s screening for the aforesaid office.
“Due to the issue surrounding the two issued certificates, LASU by their letter to the first defendant dated 2/3/2015 withdrew both certificates in order to conduct an investigation and reconcile the discrepancy on the dates of both certificates while maintaining that the certificate dated 31/1/2007 was the authentic certificate.”
The case has been fixed for hearing on May 5.
