sequel to the ongoing implementation of Biometric Validation of all civil servants and pensioners in Ekiti State through the Ministry of Finance, headed by Hon comm Dapo Kolawole, two suspects were today identified by staff and subsequently apprehended by police on the ground of impersonation at the Ekiti State Data Centre.
The Self-confessed impersonators namely; 27-year-old Omotade Samuel said he has been impersonating his ‘late’ father (Omotade, 53) at Aramoko Local Government Council since 2012 while 28-year-old Akinbode Fatade who also claimed he is impersonating his ‘ailing’ father (Fatade, over 60years old) at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Oke-Mesi since 2018.
Samuel, who claimed to live in Ibadan, Oyo State, confessed that he has been receiving prompt payment of his father’s salary for several months via electronic transfer as he works as a security guard at Aramoko Local Government Council office. This act, according to him is aided by a senior Staff of the LGA office who’s known as Mrs. Oguntuase.
“I live in Ibadan but come to Ado-Ekiti monthly to impersonate my late father and claim his salary. I have been doing this since October 2018 and while we were invited here for biometric verification, it didn’t occour to me that I will be caught,” he confessed.
Fatade also confessed that his unlawful act was aided by the Head Master of St. Paul’s African Primary School Oke-Mesi, Mr. Igbalajobi. “The Headmaster of St. Paul’s African Primary School Oke-Mesi, Mr. Igbalajobi assisted me to work in place of my father who has been absent from work for months,” he said.
Speaking at the scene of incidence, Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Dapo Kolawole said that Ekiti State Government has taken a step further in ensuring accountability and transparency in the Civil Service system by introducing the Biometric Validation exercise to keep accurate data records of all civil servants and pensioners in the state, adding that this has helped in curbing the excesses of civil servants in the state.
“When death occurs in the Civil Service, a declaration is made to announce vacancy to fill up the space to avoid cases such as impersonation. Through the biometric exercise, the fingerprints of these suspects did not match with that of their parents whom they have impersonated. The Head Teacher at St. Paul’s school in Oke-Mesi and the senior staff at Aramoko Local Government Council have aided this criminal act so they can benefit from the vacant space undeclared.
“When we commenced the biometric exercise at the local government levels, some civil servants were not verified because they were not in attendance and so we invited them to the Data Centre for verification where we discovered some of them have issues of impersonation and substitution,” he said.
Kolawole described the act as illegal and fraudulent, while affirming that the government will ensure the system is purged of all forms of illegalities.
“The government will further investigate this matter beyond this discovery and will ensure that perpetrators are brought to book through due investigations,” he said.
