Legal experts at the weekend warned that stiff penalty, including a life jail term, awaits any public official found to have forged the signature of ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua.

Insinuation were rife that the purported signature on the 2009 supplementary budget by the President might have been forged to douse rising tension and prevent Vice President Goodluck Jonathan from assuming the position of acting President in the absence of President Yar’Adua.

It was even said that the report that Principal Private Secretary to the President, David Edevbie, was in Saudi Arabia with the president for 90 minutes, during which, the President purportedly signed the budget, was false.

In the midst of the controversy and suspicion, a sitting judge warned that the offence, if proven, could earn offenders a life jail term with no option of fine. He pointed at section 467, sub-section (1) of the Criminal Code to buttress his position.

But Ladi Williams, scion of the late legal icon, Rotimi William, specifically said that a 14-year jail term awaits anyone found to have been involved in such crime.

Ladi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria said he wouldn’t want to believe the allegation was true, but was quick to add that if it could be proved it is a serious matter.

The secretary of The Patriots, the pressure group that ended the draconian rule of the military, noted that the possible punishment that awaits such culprit should it be discovered that the signature was forged to satisfy certain hidden agenda, explained, “it is 14 years behind bars and that is because the forgery was believed and acted on by the nation. That is what would make it more grievous.”

Also commenting on the issue, Lagos lawyer, Femi Adebayo said that forging the presidential seal or signature is a criminal offence.

He added that the punishment for it is jail term of up to seven years. He also added that the number of years such an offender would serve in prison is at the discretion of the judge.

Also speaking on the same subject, an Edo State based legal practitioner, Austin Idoje, agreed that forging the President’s signature to deceive the nation is a grievous offence that is punishable with a minimum of two years in prison.

He also added that the judge would determine the number of years such a person should spend in prison.

In the same vein, public affairs commentator, Mike Igini said: “It is a serious criminal offence for anybody in whatever capacity to forge the presidential signature or seal. Anybody that commits such offence risks a jail term of between 10 and 20 years.”

Another lawyer, Yinka Oyeniji said, “The punishment is a term of imprisonment and it could be interpreted as treasonable felony because to forge a presidential signature is a grievous offence. That attracts maximum punishment.”

He added that the signing of the “2009 supplementary budget has been fraught with irregularities and illegalities. Though, there is no law that says that this is how the budget should be signed, but we can rely on conventions and usual practice, budget is usually signed in the presence of media men, camera, vice president and relevant ministers, cabinet members and stakeholders. But this one was not done that way”.