Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja

In an intriguing case of identity theft, Martins Ugwu, a senior medical officer with Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja is discovered to have stolen the certificate with which he has worked for nearly a decade.

Every day is for the thief, but one day is for the owner,” goes the popular Yoruba proverb indicating that the truth will always eventually come to light no matter how long a lie has been on. Perhaps, if Martins Ugwu had taken this proverb to heart, he would not have embarked on the misadventure of seeking employment with the Federal Ministry of Health as a medical doctor with a stolen certificate of his friend. Over nine years after, the truth has caught up with Ugwu, who, as this magazine gathered last week, has turned himself to terror to his colleagues who he believed are behind his travails in the Ministry out of desperation.

Ugwu’s journey into the plum employment as a federal government medical doctor began in 2006 when he was employed as one of the Medical Personnel High-Flyers made up of applicants who passed out with first class and second class upper grade in the University. This magazine investigations revealed that Ugwu, who presented a certificate claiming to be Dr. George Daniel Davidson, was employed as Medical Officer 11 on grade level 12 step one after undergoing the employment process of the Federal Civil Service Commission.

Ugwu, who claimed to be a native of Isi Uzor Local Government Area of Enugu State, had in the documents presented to the Commission claimed to have graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Ahmadu Bello University 2002. Sources said the employment of Ugwu was despite the fact that he was unable to answer questions that should be considered as ‘very simple’ to any medical doctor during his interview. It was gathered that despite numerous complaints that should ordinarily have led to his sack, Ugwu was able to continue his job with the backing of some of his godfathers in the Ministry while also exploiting the complex web of intrigues that is the Nigerian civil service. This magazine investigations also revealed that AZ Hospital which the Ugwu claimed to have worked in Lagos was nonexistent, while he even listed himself, Martins Ugwu, which he described as his “Cusin” as one of his referees in the application letter he submitted for the job.

•Martins Ugwu, the take doctor

It was gathered that while his counterparts employed on the same level with him have been promoted to level 15, Ugwu repeatedly failed his promotion examinations and was only promoted Senior Officer 11 on salary grade level 13 on 1st, January, 2013. And before he was outed as an impostor, Ugwu was due for promotion as Assistant Director in Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Health. Trouble began for Ugwu when three of his colleagues – Dr. Adebayo Williams, Chidozie Godwin and Abdulazeez Umar in a jointly signed petition titled: “Unbecoming Behaviour of Dr. George Davidson Daniel” to the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission on 13, May 2015 asked for the investigation of the professional claims of the medical doctor. The trio, under the aegis of Concerned Medical Doctors, had in the petition complained that “Dr. George, who claims to be a trained Medical Doctor in such a way that is unbecoming of his profession, he has been involved in “blackmailing, character assassination and mudslinging.”

The group of medical doctors further complained that the claims of the so called “Dr Geroge” is suspicious because their preliminary investigations revealed that most of the Medical Doctors who graduated from ABU the same year he claimed to have graduated cannot remember him as one of their classmates. In addition, they also called the professional competence of Davidson into question as they noted that he cannot do clinical diagnosis of any patient.

The petitioners who noted that three previous attempts to investigate the professional claims of “Davidson George” had been frustrated by the subject noted that their preliminary investigations revealed that Ugwu has been using the certificate of one Dr. Davidson Daniel who worked with a Mission Hospital in Jos. It was gathered that the FCSC subsequently forwarded the letter to the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN, a body which is in charge of keeping the records of all medical practitioners in the country for investigation. As was gathered, the MDCN had upon investigation discovered that it has a doctor named George Davidson Daniel in its archive, but the picture sent to it from the Ministry is different from the one sent from the Ministry.

In the course of its investigation, the Council invited the real Dr. Davidson who was practicing in Jos to further beam light on the clash of identity. Daniel, had told the Council that Ugwu was indeed his childhood friend as they both hailed from Orukpa in Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State. This is contrary to the claims of Ugwu that he hails from Isi Uzor Local Government Area of Enugu State in his application letter to the FCSC before he was employed in 2006. Davidson who told the Council that Ugwu was his best man during his wedding in 2006 added that his credentials got missing during a job hunting trip to Abuja alongside his childhood friend, but he failed to report to the Police then because he thought he had merely misplaced it.

However, he added that Ugwu will later bring the document to him a year after they got missing on claims that somebody found them somewhere in Abuja and sent them to him. Based on its investigations, MDCN concluded that Ugwu had used his friend’s credentials to fraudulently get employment into the Federal Civil Service. “Records available to the council revealed that this Dr. Davidson Daniel George is an impostor as he is impersonating another Dr. Davidson Daniel who is the genuine doctor and currently undertaking his residency training in Jos, Plateau State,” Dr. A. Ibrahim, the Registrar of MDCN said in a letter to Deacon Joan Ayo, the Chairman of FCSC on 4 June, 2015. “Council summoned and interacted with the genuine doctor who gave some vital information on the impostor. Council has reported the matter to the law enforcement agency as a case of impersonation, with the genuine doctor deposing to a statement with regards to what happened between him and the fake doctor whose real name is Mr. Martins Ugwu. As it is, Mr. Martins Ugwu is an imposter. You may therefore wish to take further actions to deal with this matter in accordance with the provisions of the law,” the MDCN Registrar added in the letter.

“MDCN itself, it was learnt had reported the matter to the law enforcement agency as a case of impersonation with the genuine doctor deposing to a statement with regards to what happened between him and the fake doctor whose real name is Mr. Martins Ugwu,” it added.

The ABU had also in a letter to the Chairman of FCSC on 5, June 2015 confirmed that the real George Davidson Daniel graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery in May, 2002 in a letter which was signed by the Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Prof. A. G. Bakari. This was in response to a request for confirmation of Ugwu’s claim that he was a medical graduate of the ABU.

Based on the letters from MDCN and ABU, the Chairman of FCSC had written to Linus Awute, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, asking him to hand over the suspect to the police for further investigation and prosecution. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry had immediately placed Ugwu on suspension pending his dismissal from the Service in accordance with civil service rules following the findings. It was gathered that Ugwu was arrested and detained briefly by the Police on the invitation of the Police. But he was released few hours later.

Since his release, the suspect, this magazine gathered, had constituted himself into a terror to officials of the Federal Ministry of Health and even the friend he stole the certificate, vowing not to go down alone. Ugwu, according to sources had exploited his relationship with some top police officers to get himself off the hook at Apo Division where he was arrested. But MDCN had petitioned Solomon Arase, the Inspector-General of Police before Daniel who was asked to come to Abuja to physically identify Ugwu could do so.

The council said it was dissatisfied with Apo Police Division’s handling of the case of impersonations involving Ugwu and that of the other fake doctors arrested so far. In the letter to the IGP, MDCN noted that the Police never invited its officials to court as witnesses during the prosecution of fake doctors while the suits usually don’t make any headway in terms of prosecution. The real Dr. Daniel had some days ago raised alarm that his life is in danger following the release of Ugwu from Police custody.

Daniel, who said he is broken hearted upon learning that Ugwu has been using his name and credentials to work, said he was concerned about the number of lives that might have been lost to the activities of the impostor. In the same vein, it was gathered that Ugwu has been harassing officials of the Federal Ministry of Health, including the Permanent Secretary he believed were behind the discovery of the fact that he has been using false identity to work. This is in form of sending of threatening text messages and using the Police.

On 10 June, for instance, Ugwu led some men of Analytical Tracking and Interceptive Centre, ATIC Abuja to arrest officials of the federal health over claims of mismanagement of the Ebola intervention fund. Ugwu had in a 15-page document claimed that he unearthed fraud in the disbursement of N1.9bn Ebola intervention fund released last year. He had in the petition claimed that ministry of health spent N900 million of isolation tents while one Mr. Kehinde Akintunde initiated vouchers for advance granted one Musa for N28.2 million to pay for the decontamination of First Consultant Hospital in Obalende, where Patrick Sawyer, the American Liberian who brought the virus to Nigeria, died.

He claimed that Lagos State the contamination was done by Lagos State and not federal ministry of health as claimed while the fund released for the exercise was not returned to the national treasury.

He also alleged that the sum of N63.5 million meant for the training of Nigerian volunteers who went to serve during the Ebola crisis in Liberia and Sierra Leone were unaccounted for as the African Union footed that bill. Reports indicated that the officer from the ATIC, led by one Inspector Adamu had attempted to arrest John Akintunde Kehinde, director of emergency health response from his office at the Federal Secretariat, but ministry staff blocked their exit. It was gathered that the policemen had also sought to arrest the permanent secretary, head of Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, Abdulsalami Nasidi and Joshua Obasanya, team leader of the Nigerian anti-Ebola volunteers, but they were not available in office at the time of the Police invasion.

But Kehinde had in his submission to the Police agreed that while Lagos State did the contamination of the hospital, the funds allocated were returned to the Federal Ministry of Health. Kehinde had subsequently petitioned the IG over his arrest by the team led by Inspector Adamu, narrating how he was dragged down from the third floor of the Federal Secretariat by the officers who had no warrant of arrest. He said it was John Eleke, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the Federal Ministry of Health and Education who ordered the invading police officer to leave him after he demanded for the arrest warrant which they did not have.

On his part, Awute told this magazine last week that he is ready to cooperate with all law enforcement agencies to investigate allegations of any kind, but was concerned that before the Police invasion, he had received text messages from Ugwu asking him to report to ATIC. He lamented that it is a man who has been declared an impostor who is now ridiculing the efforts and commendations the country received from the global community over the way Ebola was contained in Nigeria. But based on the petition, this magazine learnt that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission, ICPC has since taken over the investigation of the case.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that the impostor who had accepted that he is indeed not a medical doctor has been sending series of text messages indicating that the Police, including the IGP cannot do anything to him.

Concerned about the seeming inaction of the Police on the case of impersonation, the FCSC in a letter to the IGP on 11 June reiterated the need for law enforcement agents to initiate the process of investigation and prosecution of Ugwu. In the letter signed by Deacon Ayo Chairman, FCSC noted in the letter there are reports that Ugwu who was arrested by the Police following discovery that he is a fake has been threatening to kill the Daniel whose certificate he has used to work for nine years following his release from detention. The Commission attached the letter from the MDCN conforming that Ugwu has been impersonating George who is currently undertaking his Residency Training in Jos, Plateau State.

However, Anjuri Manzah, the Public Relations Officer of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command said last week that the Criminal Investigation Department is already investigating the impersonation case against Ugwu.