INVESTIGATION AND CRIME: Imo Civil Servant, Edomobi In Age Falsification Scandal

An Imo State Civil Servant, Mr Dominic Edomobi is said to have falsified his age and have remained in service for 41 years. (From year 1979 to 2020).

Edomobi was said to have been retired in 2016 after 35 years of service but was surreptitiously and illegally brought back to service to the Office of the Auditor General for Local Governments in June 2019, by the immediate past Administration.

Edomobi is alleged to have been deep in age falsifications, having different dates of birthday and have abused court affidavits to enable him remain in the service till date.

Piqued by the dangerous abuse of extant laws, rules and regulations guiding Public Service administration and its potential destructive tendencies, a Deputy Director (Audit), Mr Oliver Orisakwe opened a can of worms as he formally reported the alleged fraud to the Civil Service Commission, through the Permanent Secretary Civil Service Commission, but till date no action has been taken by the Civil Service Commission.

According to the five page petition signed by Mr Oliver Orisakwe, Deputy Director, (Audit) exclusively obtained from our impeccable source titled: OVERDUE FOR RETIREMENT FROM IMO STATE CIVIL SERVICE – MR. D.E. EDOMOBI DIRECTOR OF AUDIT (GL16), it was revealed:

 “that Mr Edomobi was employed on March 3rd, 1979 as a Clerical Officer GL 04 and he worked with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

“On 11th January 1991 he secured appointment as Auditor II GL 08 with the Office of the Auditor – General for Local Governments, Imo State

“On 20th January 1992, Mr Edomobi voluntarily applied for the condonation (merging) of his service, so that his present appointment be regarded as a continuation of his earlier service.

“By letter No CSC/P.9/S.1/T.12A/1/53 of 8th September 2016 and No.SGI/S.0816/II/39 of 30th August 2016 from the Civil Service Commission and Secretary to the Government of Imo State respectively, he was retired from the service having started work on 3rd March 1979 and by 3rd March 2014, he had served for 35 years of service.

Curiously “By letter No CSC/P.9/S.1/T.1A/193 of 27th June 2019, he was purportedly recalled back to service.

“By Mr. Edomobi’s purported reinstatement, he has worked for forty one years as at year 2020 and would continue to be in the service of Imo State having served beyond 35 years stipulated by the Public Service Rules as length of service for retirement”.

Mr Orisakwe’s petition accused Edomobi of serially falsifying his age, maintaining that Mr Edomobi is a 65 years old man but still in the service of Imo State.

The Petitioner explained that Edomobi had falsified his age severally to remain in service , thereby deceiving the Civil Service Commission to enable him remain in the service probably for  life time.

He further revealed that Mr Edomobi passed out from National Youths Service (NYSC) on April 8, 1990 and on 9th November, 1990 barely 7 months, after youth service, he swore to an affidavit and falsified that he was born on August 7, 1962.

According to the petition, by Edomobi’s new age of 7th August 1962, it then follows that he was only 17 years, when he secured his earlier employment on March 3, 1979, which is not possible as government employment age is 18 years. Thats the fallacy in his affidavit after Youth Service.

The petition states in parts: “Edomobi falsified his age as, the nominal roll of 1996 in the Office of Auditor General had his date of birth as August 7, 1960, With this he is to retire for a second time on 7th August 2020, but for whatever reasons the Commission has not issued him his retirement letters in line with the Public service Rules as at date.

Again he swore an affidavit in 1990 after NYSC where he reduced his date of birth to 7th August 1962; In his high school certificate in India, he claimed 7th August 1965…” the question then is “what was the age document he used to secure his first employment, to go to University and do National Youth service?. Why did he after his NYSC swore to an affidavit reducing his age to 7th August 1962 ?.

According to sources, the Civil Service Commission discovered these discrepancies in his date of birth, but have not done the needful.

Our checks further revealed that the Civil Service Commission is unaware of his employment history, which began on March 3, 1979, whereas his confirmation of appointment was in 1982.

The maverick Edomobi was able to hide his irregular dates of births and backed with age declarations from the prying eyes of those in charge of employment.
 
HOW DOMINIC EDOMOBI RETURNED TO SERVICE AFTER RETIREMENT IN 2016

Investigations revealed that after retirement in 2016, Edomobi joined active politics, even as he became a card carrying member of a political party. He was
said to have been very active during the campaigns and general elections, and the only way he could be paid back was to return him to Civil Service against the extant laws that guide employment and disengagement of Civil Servants.

Speaking to Mrs EA Ogudoro, the Permanent Secretary, Civil Service Commission who was alleged to have been using her office to protect and cover up Mr Edomobi, she denied ever having any hand in the said racket, but that She was aware of the petition.

She however stated that there is no Commission in place to investigate the petitions of fraud preferred against Edomobi. She further pleaded
“Please do not go ahead to join me on this matter. I know nothing about the issue. I am just a Permanent Secretary, which is nothing more than an elevated Secretary. It is true that we have petitions. These petitions cannot be investigated until the Civil Service Commission is re-constituted.”

Furthermore that
“Edomobi was reinstated by the Commission and only the Commission can repeal his faulty reinstatement”.

Meanwhile, the alleged fraudulent reinstatement of Edomobi has nonetheless affected the hierarchy of Officers in the Office of Auditor General for Local Governments thereby causing disaffection among staff, hence the petition from Mr Oliver Orisakwe who is directly affected and blocked by Edomobi’s misadventure .

However, speaking to a Director in one of the Imo State Ministries who craved annonimity, he agreed that the Permanent Secretary of the Civil Commission only maintains Secretariat of the Commission and has no right to investigate petitions, he however maintained that reinstatement of Edomobi was most irregular and illegal under Public service Rules.

He further suggested that the Office of Secretary to the State Government has the right to retire him on the directives of the Governor of the State as the continued stay in service by Edomobi has been creating much dis affection in the Civil Service.

Speaking with Mr Dominic Edomobi on Telephone, he declined to speak on the allegations leveled against him, ranging from falsifications of age and his retirement in 2016.

Rather than clarify on the weighty allegations, he claimed he would not respond to them, arguing that he is a Civil Servant.

The Justice of this matter is for Mr Edomobi having gone against the tide in the Civil Service rules, is expected to be retired and all funds illegally collected by him as salaries and allowances be returned to the State Government in line with the recovery mantra of the present Administration.