From Godwin Tsa,b Abuja
A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, has sentenced a 54-year-old fake medical doctor, Mr. Martins Ugwu, to four years and two months in jail.
Ugwu was convicted of making a false statement to the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, through which he secured employment in the Federal Ministry of Health in 2006.
Justice Kutigi ordered that the convict should refund to the coffers of the Federal Government the sum of N17,024,017.90, which he earned as salaries and allowances between 2006 and 2016, after working for about ten years as a medical doctor at the Federal Ministry of Health with fake documents.
Specifically, the ICPC had in February 2016 filed a seven-count charge against Ugwu for impersonating a certain Dr. George Daniel Davidson to gain employment in the Federal Civil Service (FCS).
Justice Abubakar Idris Kutigi, who passed the sentence on the convict yesterday, ordered that he should serve his jail term at the Akure Correctional Centre, where he is standing trial in a different criminal matter.
Justice Kutigi had in his judgment on October 3, 2024, convicted the defendant on all seven counts preferred against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The judge held that the prosecution counsel, Dr. Osuobeni Akponimisingha, an Assistant Chief Legal Officer with the anti-graft commission, had established his case beyond reasonable doubt against the defendant in all the seven counts.
In passing his sentence against the convict, Justice Kutigi held that the decision to jail him without an option of fine was to serve as a deterrent to others, especially given the dangerous activities of quack doctors in the health sector.
Justice Kutigi stated that the issue of quack doctors had taken a new dimension and that the sentencing of Ugwu would serve as a deterrent to others who might want to venture into the practice without necessary certifications.
Besides, he held that the convict was not remorseful over the charges and overwhelming evidence against him.
“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.
“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,” Justice Kutigi held.
Meanwhile, the convict had in his allocutus pleaded with the court to tamper justice with mercy and send him to the Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja.
However, the prosecution counsel, Osuobeni Akponimisingha, was vehemently opposed to his plea, describing the convict as a serial offender who does not deserve the mercy of the court.
Akponimisingha, citing Sections 319 and 321 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), urged the court to order the restitution of all money the culprit earned while he was parading himself as Dr. George Daniel with a stolen certificate.
Ugwu was on June 28, 2015, arraigned by the ICPC on an eight-count charge of false statements and impersonation.
However, Justice Abubakar Idris Kutigi struck out the charge of alleged impersonation against Ugwu to enable him to face prosecution for a similar charge before the Abuja division of the Federal High Court.
Idris-Kutigi argued that five of the eight-count charges against Ugwu at the Abuja Federal High Court, by the Inspector General of Police, bordered on stealing and impersonation.
He, however, held that the substance of the other seven charges against Ugwu bordered on alleged false statements, which had no correlation with the charges before him.
He, therefore, struck out the charge of impersonation in the interest of justice.
The commission said his alleged offence contravened Section 25(1)(a) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, and was punishable under Section 25(1)(b) of the same act.
He was alleged to have 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 fake documents.
Ugwu further allegedly used the fake documents to procure a staff identity card bearing the name of Dr. George Daniel Davidson, applied for annual leave, and a postgraduate training programme which would have conferred on him a master’s degree in the field of Epidemiology Practice.