How a fake medical doctor rose to become chairman of Nigerian Medical association (NMA)

Martins Ugwu Okpeh,a 44-year-old secondary school certificate holder, who, for nine years was parading himself as a medical doctor and even rose to become the chairman of a branch of the Nigerian Medical Association, (NMA) has been arrested.

Okpeh, an indigene of Ogbadibo local government area of Benue State and father of five stole copies of the medical and academic credentials of his childhood friend Dr. George Davidson, a medical doctor practising in Jos and used it to secure employment in the Federal Ministry of Health.

The fake doctor continued his deceit and practised as a medical doctor and collected salaries from the ministry until the lid was blown off his scheme.

An anonymous petition led the police to investigate his activities and he was paraded on Tuesday by the deputy force spokesman, CSP Abayomi Shogunle.

According to Shogunle, an anonymous petition from the ministry endorsed the police analytical tracking and interception centre for discreet investigation.

And “what was perceived as unprofessional conduct and unwholesome behaviour of inciting trouble and blackmailing by the self acclaimed medical doctor Martins Ugwu Okpeh prompted an anonymous petition against him to the Federal Civil Service Commission in May 2015.”

Shogunle said investigation conducted through the records available at the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria showed that the Okpeh adopted the identity of Dr. Davidson, a true medical doctor on residency training in Jos.

“Martins Ugwu has been parading himself as a medical doctor in the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja for almost one decade and was among medical volunteers trained by the ministry in conjunction with African-Union Support to Ebola Outbreak in West-Africa (ASEOWA) mission in Liberia,” Shogunle said.

Confirming his involvement, Okpeh said he actually took the certificates from his friend to join the Health Ministry in order to unearth the fraud and “mess” there as an insider.

“I never opted for clinical services to avoid damage that may occur, I went into administration and research. It is in the Health Services, Research and Statistics that all the fraud in the health sector is found.

“I have great remorse but its my desire to save my country that pushed me into this, I have great passion for Nigeria, I participated in the Ebola mission and much more and have not even been paid.

“Severally, there were biometric verifications, but I survived them, I was the NMA chairman in 2008, Federal Ministry of health, I don’t think has the mechanisms for that, the Ministry is porous,” he said. 

Chikaotu Chikere