In past weeks, what looks very much like a Nollywood film has played out at the Federal Ministry of Health. More interestingly, the allegations against one Martins Okpe Ugwu is reminiscent of a character played by Hollywood star Leonardo Dicaprio in the 2002 hit biopic, Catch Me IjYou Can. 

 

Frank Abagnale, played by the Dicaprio before his 19th birthday, successfully performed cons worth millions of dollars by posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot, a Georgia doctor, and a Louisiana parish prosecutor. But Ugwu restricted his alleged con to the Federal Ministry of Health where he worked as doctor for nine years using the credentials of his friend and distant relation, Dr. Davidson Daniel George. 

 

Ugwu is standing trial at a Federal High Court in Abuja. He was arraigned on a five-count charge for impersonation and stealing of a Bachelor of Medicine Degree of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. 

 

In the criminal charge to which he pleaded not guilty, Ugwu was also alleged to have stolen a Bachelor of Surgery Degree and National Youth Service Corps certificates belonging to the same Dr. Daniel George. Having taken his plea, the accused person moved a bail application through his counsel, urging the Court to grant him bail in liberal terms, a position that was not opposed by the 

prosecution. 

 

The court consequently admitted the accusvureties of which one must not be lower than level 12 in any federal government agency. The accused was remanded in Kuje Prison custody, pending when he would perfect his bail conditions. Ugwu, 44, an from Benue State was employed as a Senior Medical Officer in 2006 on grade level 12 with the Federal Ministry of Health, where he was alleged to have been drawing monthly salary and allowances. 

 

He was apprehended during the verification of professional skills of resident doctors conducted by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, where he presented the certificate in June to secure clearance. 

 

The offense is contrary to Section 383 of the Criminal Code which stipulates that "a person who fraudulently takes anything capable of being stolen, or fraudulently converts to his own use or to the use of any other person anything capable of being stolen, is said to steal that thing". The criminal Code in Section 390 stipulates the punishment for the offence which ranges from a minimum of two years imprison or a life sentence depending on the weight of the offence.

 

Besides his facing jail term if found guily, the talking Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Linus Awute in a press briefing disclosed that the ministry is computing all salaries and allowances paid to the alleged impersonator. Abuja Metro investigations revealedthat the ministry is bent on getting a refund from Ugwu as it has computed the salaries and allowances Ugwu was paid from September 21 to May 31, to be approximately N17m. 

 

At the news conference, the Permanent Secretary, lamented that the fake doctor swindled government, practicing as a medical doctor and collected salaries from the ministry until his lies were discovered. According to Awute, the impostor was a belligerent staff of the ministry who often harassed heads of agency under the ministry. He stated that it was the Federal" Civil Service Commission that recruited Ugwu as it is the mandate of the commission to employ and deploy staff to any ministry it deems fit. The Permanent- Secretary however commended the commission, as it was the same Federal Civil Service Commission that blew the lid, exposing Ugwu as an impostor. 

 

He said that Ugwu did not operate alone, as he and other staff of the ministry, have been receiving threat messages from people over his issue. "I have feelers that he has sponsors, both external and internal, who are also willing to step into his shoes. They have been sending threatening text messages to all of us here", he said. 

 

Indeed, Abuja Metro discovered that Ugwu who was the chairman of the health ministry chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association had severally used the position to harass past Permanent Secretaries and Director-Generals of agencies super-vised by the ministry. 

 

 

Describing Ugwu in a manner some of those who have worked with him would agree, Awute said: "Mr. Ugwu was an argumentative and bellicose officer who tormented the lives of other colleagues in the ministry, serving as a competent trickster and extorter. Mr. Ugwu was found to have perfected his trade of extortion not only from staff of the main ministry but often harassed heads of agencies under the federal ministry of Health. In his character, in the month of May, he raised a false alarm that the Ebola intervention fund was misappropriated." In fact, it was Ugwu's famed confrontational style that led to three of his colleagues Dr. Adebayo Williams, Chidozie Godwin and Abdulazeez Umar, writing a petition titled: "Unbecoming Behaviour of Dr. George Davidson Daniel" to the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission-on May 13- that asked for the investigation of his professional claims. The petitioners wrote that "Dr. George, who claims to be a qualified medical doctor behaves in such a way that is unbecoming of his profession, has been involved in blackmailing character assassination and mudslinging."

 

Undoubtedly, Ugwu's actions mase life diffult for his colleagues on a number of occasions, even the usually sturdy Permanent Secretary had to petition the Inspector General of Police on July 6 stating that he was being threatened through letters, texts and phone calls by those he identified as member's ofUgwu's "gang of extortionists". Awute's letter to the I.G read in part, 

 

"The purpose of this letter is to further request for your intervention to protect my life and the monumental achievements of the government of the federal republic of Nigeria in the health sector". 

 

Based on Ugwu's allegations that the N1.9b Ebola fund was mismanaged, John Akintunde Kehinde, the director of emergency health response ministry of Health and three other top officials were expected to be taken by the police. They included the Permanent-Secretary, head of Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, (NCDC) Abdulsalami Nasidi and Joshua Obasanya, team leader of the Nigerian anti-Ebola volunteers and deputy head of the ASEOWA mission, which led the response to Ebola in West Africa for the African Union. Kehinde who the ministry staff stopped the police from taking him away and Nasidi have vehemently denied mismanaging the fund. Obviously, Awute in a desperate bid to clear the reputation of the ministry had led it to fully cooperate with the police in getting Ugwu arraigned. But another person who feels deeplybetrayed by Ugwu is his friend 

 

"George in an interview with journalists said he was let down by Ugwu whom he trusted a great deal. "To be fair to him, but for this incident, if you tell me Martins (Ugwu) is a bad boy, I will deny because of the relationship we have had right from when I was in medical school. He may have this rugged face, but I would have told you Martins is 001 a bad guy before this incident and that was why I was traumatized when i got to know that this is what really happened"

 

 

who he impersonated for nine years. George in an interview with journalists said he was let down by Ugwu whom he trusted a great deal. "To be fair to him, but for this incident, if you tell me Martins (Ugwu) is a bad boy, I will deny because of the relationship we have had right from when I was in medical school. He may have this rugged face, but I would have told you Martins is not a bad guy before this incident and that was why I was traumatized when I got to know that this is what really happened. We have been meeting since 2006. I expected better things from him", he lamented. George who is currently undergoing his housemanship at the University of Jos Teaching Hospital, revealed that he always thought Ugwu whom he first met as a medical student at ABU Zaria worked for the Defence Ministry, having believed that he was a staff of the printing department of Jaji cantonment. He said, "I didn't even know he worked in the Ministry of Health. All this while, I had always assumed that Martins worked in the Ministry of Defence. 

 

Like I told you, Jaji is under the Ministry of Defence, so I have always believed that he worked there, even when he told me he had been transferred to Abuja. So, I was dazed when the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria told me on phone that it is my name Martins bears and I was also surprised when they showed me the photocopies of my certificate." Explaining how his documents could have been taken, George, who Ugwu served as best man when he wedded in Abuja in 2006, said it was during his wedding that his friend struck. 

 

"I discussed with Martins that I came to Abuja to submit a photocopy of my credentials at the Civil Service Commission. But I got carried away with the wedding; I went back, until when my friend called me. Of course, I didn't send my documents, but I sent the photocopies and he submitted. But I didn't follow it up because I was busy in Shendam and that was how I forgot about it. Nobody called me for interview and I just believe that it was because I was not lucky with regard to getting the job." 

 

However if the system had once failed George who said Ugwu has never called to apologize, he is happy that there are pointers to justice being done this time. He said, "I got a little peace when I saw him (Ugwu) on the network news because I am getting somejustice, Since this thing happened, nobody (from Ugwu's family) has called me and I thought with the normal 

 

Nigerian way of doing things, this issue would be swept under the carpet. So, i said let me move on. But when i saw it (news), I got some peace, even for wife; we got some level of joy But the truth is that peace will be complete if somebody calls me-either Martins or one of his family members to say sorry.

 

BY KEMI YESUFU 

DAILY SUN