A Mapo Grade ‘A’ Customary Court in Ibadan has sentenced one Bolanle Adeyemo, 50, to one year in the correctional centre for possessing and forging a marriage certificate in court.
Delivering judgment on Friday, the President of the court, Mrs S.M. Akintayo, held that she convicted and sentenced Bolanle based on her guilty plea and the evidence tendered against her by the prosecution.
Akintayo also said that the court exercised its discretion in sentencing Bolanle, having pleaded guilty to the charges preferred against her.
She therefore sentenced Bolanle to one year in the correctional centre for each of counts two and three, or an option of one month of community service, for the offences of unlawful possession and forgery of a marriage certificate.
The President of the court discharged the convict of the first count of conspiracy.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Mr Adeboye Adeyemo, 55, the husband of the now-convict, had on March 26 filed a divorce suit against Bolanle due to misunderstandings between them.
However, in her attempt to save the marriage, Bolanle told the court that she had a valid marriage with Adeyemo and that it should not be dissolved.
The convict therefore tendered the forged marriage certificate to substantiate her claim, but Adeyemo opposed it.
Consequently, the court ordered the police to conduct a thorough investigation to uncover the truth.
Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp. Ayodele Ayeni told the court that the convict committed the crime at about 9; 00 a.m., at Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Ayeni said that Bolanle tendered the forged marriage certificate before the court as evidence in a divorce suit filed by Adeyemo against her.
He said Adeyemo opposed the admissibility of the exhibit, arguing that no marriage certificate was issued to them on Sept. 12 1996.
The prosecution said that the investigation conducted revealed that the Ibadan North Local Government registry, which was on the certificate, denied ever issuing any marriage certificate to Bolanle and that the one in her possession was a fake.
He said that the offences contravene the provisions of sections 516, 465 and 430 of the criminal code cap 38, Vol. ii law of Oyo State 2000.
