A fake medical doctor, Martins Ugwu, 54 years, who claimed ownership of his best man’s medical school certificates, with which he got employed in the Federal Ministry of Health, has been jailed for four years and two months.
Justice Abubakar Kutigi of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, in Jabi, Abuja pronounced the sentence on him in a ruling on Tuesday.
Justice Kutigi sentenced Ugwu to six months on each count of the seven-count charge on which he was prosecuted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC.
The judge, who said the sentences shall run consecutively, said it was necessary to send signal to those in the habit of claiming what they are not and making false representation.
He noted that in his plea for mercy, the defendant did not exhibit any sense of remorse, but instead, sought to blame others for his conduct.
Justice Kutigi noted that the issue of quack doctor was assuming troubling dimension in the country.
He said it was of grave concern that the defendant used fake certificates to get employment into Federal Civil Service and rose to a senior position in the Federal Ministry of Health before he was found out.
The judge said it was also of concern that the defendant might have practiced as a medical doctors for years and in the process attended to innocent patients.
He said although the defendant was a first-time offender, with a young family, he was not remorseful despite the gravity of his offence.
Justice Kutigi also noted that the defendant still has about three criminal cases pending against him in court, one before another judge of the High Court of the FCT, another pending before the Abuja division of the Federal High Court and the third one before a HIgh Court of Ondo State in Akure.
The judge then proceeded to sentence him to a total of four years and two months in jail.
He ordered the defendants to refund the salaries and allowances he wrongfully earned while he was employed between 2006 and 2016, estimated at N17,024,017. 90.
The judge held that should the defendant be unable to repay the money, he should be made to serve an additional one year in jail.
Justice Kutigi, who noted that the defendant was brought from a prison in Akure, where he was remanded by an Ondo High Court, ordered that he should be returned to Akure to face his ongoing trial there.
Justice Kutigi had, in a judgment on October 3, held that the prosecution, represented by Osuobeni Akponimisingha, proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The judge proceeded to convict Ugwu in absentia and reserved sentencing until when he is apprehended and produced in court.
Exploring inter-agencies collaboration, the ICPC was able to facilitate his transfer from the Akure prison, where he was being held in respect of the Akure case, for the sentence that was pronounced on Tuesday.
Ugwu was said to have assumed the ownership of the certificate of his best man during his wedding, Dr. George Daniel Davidson, with which he got employed in the federal civil service at the Federal Ministry of Health.
He was, in the charge, marked: CR/273/2015, also accused of using the fake documents/certificates to procure a staff identity card, bearing the name of Dr. George Daniel Davidson; applied for annual leave as well as a post graduate training programme which would have conferred on him a Masters degree in the field of Epidemiology Practice.
Ugwu was equally accused of making false statement to the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, through which he secured employment into the Federal Ministry of Health, in 2006.
He was alleged to have unlawfully drawn salaries and allowances up to N17.2 million between 2006 and 2016, after working for about ten years as a medical doctor at the Federal Ministry of Health with the fake documents/certificates.
(Daily Post)
