‘Dr. George Davidson’: A Professional Identity Rogue And The Law

BY EGUONO ODJEGBA

His real name is Martins Ugwu Okperwho and he is a secondary school leaver. Coldly calculating, unfazed, presumptuous and audacious, records show that in 2006, Martins Ugwu stole the academic certificate of a certain Dr. George Daniel Davidson, with which he secured a job at the Federal Ministry of Health.

He thereafter worked as a medical administrator for 10 years, earning an estimated ₦17.2 million in salaries and allowances, before his fake identity was busted in 2015, bringing to an end his fake career in the health sector as a medical doctor.

Today, we shall not talk about the impact and implications of his rogue service in the ministry; since it is such a serious matter that will require greater attention and treatment.

In February 2016, Martins Ugwu was subsequently arrested and investigated by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), after which the Commission charged him to court. The ICPC filed a seven-count charge against him for impersonating Dr. George Daniel Davidson to gain employment in the federal civil service.

The Commission said his alleged offence contravened Section 25(1)(a) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, and is punishable under Section 25(1)(b) of the same act.

His prosecution however enjoyed endless freedom as various judicial, legal technicalities and the systemic judicial delays shielded him from incarceration for close to nine years during which his trial was tantamount to being a rat race.

But whilst his prosecution lasted, Martins Ugwu was not ready to have a change of lifestyle and was allegedly engaged in series of fresh criminal activities bothering on impersonation, blackmail and cyber stalking.

Records show that Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of government agencies were mainly his target, most of whom he allegedly defrauded and subjected to continuous emotional harassment and extortion. While the majority of his victims were easy prey, few others were believed to have stoutly resisted him.

There are indications that Martins Ugwu got by, using a phony NGO known as Save the Soul Transparency and Eagle Eyes International Foundation; said to enjoy the full complement of some unsuspecting innocent members and a board of trustees, he was believed to have fraudulently put together.

It is instructive that Martins Ugwu started battling criminal suites and summons about the time he got kicked out of his plum ministry job, and was going from one court to the other; while somehow still enjoyed walking the streets a free man.

But neither did the ICPC despair in its effort to bring him to justice, despite the seeming delays and apparent frustrations. The Commission’s legal department was able to build a strong case against him in lieu of the stolen identity he constructed to secure a job at the federal civil service as medical personnel; while the Federal Civil Service Commission came handy in the prosecution as a significant witness.

The local aphorism which says ‘everyday is for the thief, one day is for the owner’ played out on Tuesday, November 26, 2024, when the High Court, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Division  Abuja, sentenced the 54 year Martins Ugwu, to four years and two months in jail.

He was convicted of misleading the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission through false statements that secured him a job in the federal civil in 2006.

Delivering his judgment, Justice Abubakar Idris Kutigi handed him a four years and two months jail term without an option of fine, on a seven count charge bothering on criminal commissions.

Justice Kutigi held that the decision to jail him without an option of fine was to serve as deterrence to others that may wish to act like Martins Ugwu; while noting the peculiar danger posed to society by the activities of fake doctors and nurses.

His sentence reads in part: “In view of the severity of the offence and its dangerous effects on the health sector, the message should be clearly sent out loud to serve as a deterrent to others.

“The incidence of quack doctors has taken on a dangerous dimension in the health sector. He used another person’s certificate to secure employment and attained a certain level in the federal service.

“The prosecution has equally shown that he is facing other charges in different courts, including the Federal High Court, the FCT High Court, and another court in Akure.

“I hereby sentence him to a term of six months on each of the seven counts consecutively, bringing it to a total of four years and two months in prison.”

For a man accused of callous disposition and failure to show remorse for his actions by the court, and for a man notorious for consistently impersonating, waylaying and defrauding people, one wonders if a jail term of a few years will make him a better man.

And talking about deterrence, what he got from the court for the monies he received as salaries and emoluments sounds laughable as a miscarriage of true justice.

According to the judgment, Martins Ugwu was ordered to return wages he received totaling N17,024,017.90 to the coffers of the federal government, and failure to do so, to serve an additional one year in jail in lieu for N17.2 million.

That for many unemployed people is an attractive penalty for criminal commission; but let’s leave that seeming weak jurisprudence peculiar to our system for the legal pundits.

If Martins Ugwu walks away with a nine month jail term in lieu of N17million, and that sounds like a slap on the wrist, one wonders if such light punishment can deter would be quacks constantly scheming to get fixed up in government jobs.

But Justice Kutigi did not prevaricate in her ruling. “In addition, he is to refund the sum of N17,024,017.90 to the coffers of the federal government, failing which he will spend an additional year in prison”, he said.

According to court documents, part of the monies received by Martins Ugwu includes emoluments such as annual leave. He also reportedly enrolled for a postgraduate training programme which would have conferred on him a Master’s degree in the field of Epidemiology Practice. It is unclear why he failed to participate in the training programme.

Martins Ugwu is perhaps, is not perhaps the common deviants that prowl the work place making cool monies; his dexterity and seeming complex personality qualifies for an academic or judicial research.

Whilst he has multiple court cases all of which were criminal in nature, he boldly tells Justice Kutigi that he should consider remanding him in Abuja since according to him, there are plot to keep him away from appearing in court during some of the proceedings.

Martins Ugwu’s sentencing followed his conviction on all seven counts preferred against him by the lCPC on October 3, 2024 by Justice Kutigi. Identity theft in high scale profession such as the military, para-military, education and healthcare has been on the rise, in the last two decades; propelled more by unemployment.

For Martins Ugwu, it is hard to tell the motivation, as there are no indications that he had a prior work experience in the health sector to warrant stealing his way through, and on top of it, at the management, monitoring and enforcement level.

That it took the ministry ten years to discover the leakage speaks volume, but like already aforementioned, those are matters for another day; an audacious circle has closed with the sentencing of the fake Dr George Daniel Davidson.

Interstingly, Justice Kutigi ordered that Martins Ugwu be taken back to Akure, the capital city of Ondo State where he was in custody pending the determination of another case against him, to serve his jail term. No one knows when the Akure case will be heard, if it is expeditiously discharged and Martins Ugwu is found guilty and sentenced to jail term, chances are that the timing will coincide. Would that possibility defeat or lower the impact of punitive rulings?

And would this be the end of the road for the unfazed, unremorseful, gut driven Martins Ugwu whose anti-corruption phony communications gave his victims the jitters, whilst it lasted? Will his incarceration bring out the better person in him opposed to criminal inclinations, after serving out his jail term? What about his co-travelers in some of the criminal activities so far linked to them?

Apart from the ICPC that has been able to pursue its case against Martins Ugwu to a logical conclusion, what about the other victims not in the commission’s schedule? As it is often said, perhaps, only time will tell.