Wema Bank forged Deeds of Legal Mortgage, Forensic expert tells court

IKEJA, Lagos, Nigeria – A retired Superintendent of Police and Member American Academy of Forensic Science, Mr. Raphael Onwuziligbo today told a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, that signatories in Wema Bank’s purported Deeds of Legal Mortgage, mandating the bank to corner and sell the property situated at No. 3 Ijaiye Street, Mafolokwu, Oshodi  belonging to late Sobola, father to the claimant, Olayiwola Sobola were at variance with specimen signatures in the Title Deeds deposited with the bank for an overdraft facility of an initial N1 million.

Raphael Onwuziligbo worked in the Forensic Department of the FCID as forensic examiner for over 27 years,  appearing in courts in Nigeria and abroad to testify before he retired into private practice. He testified as a witness in Suit ID954/2001 by the claimant against Wema Bank Plc and Sunday Adeyemo, wherein forgery has been alleged.

The police forensic expert under cross examination by Wole Bamigbala and Olufemi Falana for the first(Wema Bank Plc ) and second(Sunday Adeyemo) defendants told the court that letters were brought to his attention on receipt by the then Commissioner of Police in charge of FCID for forensic examination.

He said he examined the signatures on the purported Deeds of Legal Mortgage forwarded to the CP by Chief .S.O Kuyoro, looking at the signatures stroke by stroke and thereafter came to the conclusion the signatories were in disparity with what was in the Title Deeds with the bank. He tendered his observations in written form and admitted as evidence together with his comparative table of the signatures, A, B and C.

After a thorough examination, deploying Video scriptoral comparison VAT 5000  and other relevant hitech equipment, he came to the conclusion that there were different patterns of signatories and that unique to each individual is inherent master pattern of signature.

“Nobody can sign his signature wrongly unless he wants to disguise, it is only a person trying to simulate that will produce irregular strokes, drawing. If a person is asked to sign 1000 times, he will produce his regular pattern the only difference is pictorial pattern, but the master pattern is the same”, he affirmed.

Wole Bamigbala: You have established irregularities in the signatories, don’t you think that it would have been good that you look at other documents with similar signatories executed over a long period of  time?

Witness: My answer is that A, B and C are sufficient to conduct scientific examination and comparison. They are sufficient because the signatures are of these same pattern and I went ahead to conduct the forensic analysis, and the result is that signatures on A and B are different from C.

Bamgbala: For how long have you been in practice before this case?

Witness: I have over 27 years analysing documents  in and out of court even outside Nigeria.

Bamgbala: Do you have any certification in forensic analysis?

Witness: I a memer of American Foriensic examiner.

Bamgbala: Any certification?

Witness: All I know is that I am a member of American Academy of Forensic Science. My lord during my service time, foreign experts come to the lab to conduct lecture, train and update experts, after one of  those their training , I was considered because I was OC of the document units of the forensic lab and I have evidence to show that in their magazine where they considered me under handwriting. I have a copy.

Bamgbala: Have you been certified.

Witness: I said I am a member.

Bamgbala: Don’t you know that irregularity do not prove a case of forgery because the mortgagor could have signed irregularly.

Witness: There is a diference between irregularity and master pattern on inherent feature. It is irregular, if the formation of the signatures are not properly formed pictorially where a layman can say no this is not the person’s signatiure. But when you come to matter patter or inherent feature, every individual has inherent master pattern or inherit feature it is unique to individuals. The master pattern is unaltered.

Bamgbala: Don’t you think that master pattern can be affected by health pattern? 

Witness: No. That is graphology. Graphologist are experts who attempt to interprete human behaviour based on behaviour, forensic experts anyalise signatures stroke by stroke, forensic examiner does not behave like a graphology. Forensic examiner depends on stroke hence we are able to work on photocopy.

Nobody was born with the knowledge of writting, you learn how to write, from copy book standard, you now form your own individuality, nobody can get it hence, ABCD, the teacher  gives pupil homework to copy, they pass the work to the teacher to mark. The teacher does not not know the mentality of producing any letter. Later A formation is different, one person starts from up and another can start his own formation from another angle.

Bamgbala: You are aware that the complainant died of cardiac arrest, don’t you think that his mental state could have affected his signatures?

Witness: I said the mental state of every individual cannot affect master pattern. Immediately you write, if flows from you hand to you brain. Immediately you want to start, you must know where to begin.

Bamgbala: Mr Sobola had issue with cardiac failure, which may affect his writing”

Witness: My lord, my training was not to listen to stories, so as not to influence my result, the signatories are comparable enough to influence my decision. When I conducted the forensic analysis, I was still in active service with the Police Force.

Falana:  Did you asked to be given a CTC copy of the court?

Witness: CTC is irrelevant in this case

Falana: You are alleging that the deeds were forged?

Witness: I said after conducting complete analysis, bc the letter was generalised, I examined and compared all the signatures in A, B and C. After the anaylysis, I wrote a report and passed it to the CP in charge of Foreinsic Unit, he did a lettter forwarding the report to the client.  As an expert based on my training, my duty is to examine and comunicate my findings, in the police everybody has his own duty.

Falana: Did you requenct to see the signatories to sign for you so that you can compare them?

Witness: My training is to aviod seeing anybody to aviod being biased. I found those documents suitable for analysis, legible for examination and comparison, no need for requesting for any other thing. I am trained not to see those who who sign to aviod bias.

Falana: People sometimes sign irregular signatures

Witness: Nobody can sign his signature wrongly unless he wants to disguise, it is only a person trying to simulate that will produce irregular strokes, drawing. If a person is asked to sign 1000 times, he will produce his regular pattern the only different is pictorial pattern, but the master pattern is thesame. If a person is asked to sign his signature, he will not ignore the inherent patterns, it can never change, only a layman that can look at a genuine signature and conclude based on pictorial pattern but master pattern remains unchanged.

Falana: Did the courts agree with you in all the cases you have handled?

Witness: My lord, in my written statement, I mentioned, cases Clifford Ilo and Union Bank, the court in Benin upheld my opinion. Law report Fashakin against Ilo, AC 1167, you will see my name there. Those one that I rememebr, in FRN Vs Sunday Ogundiya. The one I am aware off judgement was delivered in my favour. 

Falana: The defendants have produced two seemingly similar documents said to have been executed by the claimant in this case, but the first one is the document titled mortage, 30th Oct 1997. 

Witness: I dont know the genesis of this case, I dont know whether the parties are alive or dead.  I don’t know the genesis of this case.

Falana: Did you use this your glasses in the forensic examination?

Witness: I used Video scriptoral comparison VAT 5000 to certified my analysis and other devices. 

Falana: Are you aware that your documents are not binding on the court? 

Witness: I am only a witness to do my part to testify to the court how I arrived at that conclusion. The witness was thereafter Justice Candide Johnson discharged the witness and the matter adjourned to Wednesday, November 27, 2019 for defence.

However, court documents obtained by our correspondent, revealed that the late Sobola in 1997 through his company Pace Maritime Agency Limited obtained an overdraft facility  of N1 million from Wema Bank Plc which was liquidated by the company.

As security for the loan, the claimant’s father now deceased pledged the title document to the property at No.3 Ijaiye Street, Mafolokwu, Oshodi by handing over the title documents for safe keeping with the understanding that the documents shall be returned upon liquidation of the overdraft facility.

The court documents further revealed that the facility was increased to N2 million in 1999 since the claimant’s father liquidated the facility on time. We also gathered from court documents that the claimant serviced the facility until 2000 when the claimant’s father was admitted to Lagos University Hospital and eventually died.

According to court papers, the claimant applied to the Lagos Land Bureau for Certified copy of the Legal Mortgage said to have been executed by his father but was thoroughly shocked by the caricature reprint of the signature of his father and that of the secretary of the company on the said Legal Mortgage, forcing his lawyers to petition then Commissioner of Police to ascertain the authenticity of the signatures via forensic examination

“The process of scientific examination and comparison carried out in the relevant columns of the documents found features of disparity in the signatures, in other words, the signatures on the said Deed of Legal Mortgage were not the same with the specimen signatures of the late father of the claimant and that of the secretary of the company.

The claimant, Olayiwola Sobola is now seeking a declaration allowing him to redeem the overdraft facility of N 2 million and an additional cost of N500,000 to cover interest for the period and an order to return the title deed of the property and a declaration nullifying the said sale of the property and N100 million as special and general damages for collusion committed against the claimant and illegal execution on the property.