DSP Bright Edafe’s Tweet on Forgery Sparks Controversy.
A senior police officer found himself in a Twitter controversy after he attempted to address a question regarding forgery, inadvertently touching upon the recent certificate scandal involving Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu.
On October 7, 2023, a user with the Twitter handle @DrOlufunmilayo posed a hypothetical scenario to the @PoliceNG account. The user asked, “If I used to live in Abuja and bought a Mercedes SUV at the Mercedes dealership in Abuja, then I moved to Port Harcourt some weeks later and realized I had lost the car receipt and all the original car papers, would printing another car receipt at a cafe with the same or different signature be considered forgery?
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DSP Bright Edafe, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) for Delta State Police, responded to the tweet by stating, “Does this question make any sense to you at all? You forged a document, and you are here asking questions. Google forgery on the criminal code or penal code and the definition, and punishment.”
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However, the tweet took an unexpected turn when users pointed out that DSP Bright Edafe’s response could also be applied to the controversy surrounding Bola Tinubu’s alleged forgery of his Chicago State University certificate. Tinubu, a prominent political figure, has faced allegations of forging his academic credentials.
Realizing the implications of his response, DSP Bright Edafe subsequently deleted the tweet. However, it was too late, as users had already taken screenshots of his initial response.
The incident highlights the sensitivity of the forgery issue, especially in the context of political figures. It also underscores the potential for social media interactions to quickly escalate and draw attention to contentious topics
