A senior official of the Federal
Ministry of Health, Martins Ugwu, who has been practising as a ‘medical
doctor’ for over nine years, has been arrested by the police upon
discovery that he stole the licence from his friend.
Ugwu, who is a Senior Medical Officer II
on Grade Level 13, was found to have impersonated his friend, Dr.
George Daniel, who is undergoing a residency training programme in Jos,
Plateau State.
He allegedly stole the licence from his
friend for whom he was best man during a wedding in 2006. They both hail
from Orukpa in the Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State.
Here & There Gist learnt that Ugwu,
who was due to be promoted to an Assistant Director in the Nigerian
Centre for Disease Control, a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of
Health, has been working in the civil service since 2006 under the name,
Dr. George Davidson Daniel, until he was indicted by the Medical and
Dental Council of Nigeria as an impostor.
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Ugwu
who was arrested by the police last Thursday, was, however, released a
few hours later, fueling speculations that the policemen might have been
compromised.
Ugwu’s arrest was sequel to an
investigation by the MDCN, which registers all Nigerian doctors and
regulates their practice after investigations, the MDCN uncovered two
Dr. Daniels- the same name on two separate identity photographs.
The MDCN in a letter to the Chairman,
Federal Civil Service Commission, dated June 4, 2015, signed by the
Registrar, Dr. A. Ibrahim, described Ugwu as an impostor, adding that
the case had been reported to the police for further investigation and
action.
It reads, “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 he currently undertakes his residency training in Jos,
Plateau State.
“The council summoned and interacted
with the genuine doctor who gave some vital information on the impostor.
The council has reported the matter to the law enforcement agency as a
case of impersonation; with the genuine doctor deposing to a statement
with regard to what happened between him and the fake doctor whose real
name is Mr. Martins Ugwu.
“As it is, Mr. Martins Ugwu is an
impostor. You may therefore wish to take further actions to deal with
this matter in accordance with the provisions of the law.”
The MDCN said it was dissatisfied with
the manner with which the police handled Ugwu’s case and promised to
take up the matter with the Inspector-General of Police.
The council cited a previous arrest of a
fake doctor arraigned for prosecution, insisting that the prosecuting
police officers had never called the council’s investigators to court as
witnesses while the case stalled in court.
The council said it was investigating and prosecuting about 40 cases of quacks in courts.
Ironically, Ugwu was part of a
government committee that met more than 200 contingents returning from
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea where they had volunteered to help
fight Ebola under an African Union mission, last week in Abuja.
The Head of Inspectorate Department,
MDCN, Dr. Henry Okwuokenye, who led the team of investigators, confirmed
Ugwu’s arrest to one of our correspondents on Sunday in Abuja.
He said, “When we looked at our
archives, we discovered there was actually somebody that bears the name,
Dr. George Daniel, but the picture is not the same as the one that was
sent to us. The Daniel under investigation had a photocopy of a practice
licence and a provisional licence- the first temporary documentation
for new doctors valid for only two years- but the unique folio number
matched a real Dr. Daniel on MDCN files.”
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of
Health, Linus Awute, fingered Ugwu as the head of a gang “scandalising
and intimidating heads of agencies under the ministry and extorting
money from them.”
He explained that the impostor had been
handed over to the police, noting that the process of his sacking from
the civil service had commenced. She said all the monies he had received
as salaries would be recovered.
Awute said, “We are making efforts to
get the other members of his (Ugwu’s) gang. He has been on the payroll
of the government all these years but nemesis has caught up with him. He
is the leader of a gang that has been operating in the ministry,
intimidating and extorting money from heads of agencies under the
ministry. They have approached me to negotiate in the belief that money
has come to the ministry to be shared.”
When contacted, the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Anjuguri Manzah, said the police were investigating the matter.
“The matter is under investigation, though the suspect has been released on bail for now,” he stated.
A woman from Maryland, 34-year-old Kelly Mayhew, died shortly after
getting silicon injections for a behind lift in Queens, NY and police
say the person who was performing the procedure was unlicensed and ran
away from the scene.
