A 44 -year-old alleged faked medical doctor, Martins Ogwu Okpe, an employee of the Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, was yesterday arraigned before a Federal High Court in Abuja on a five-count charge of stealing a Bachelor of Medicine degree (MBBS) of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaira, to secure and work as a Federal civil servant. The accused, who was put on trial by the Inspector General of Police, IGP Solomon Arase, was also alleged to have stolen another Bachelor of Surgery degree of the same university and the National Youth Service Corps certificate belonging to his childhood friend, Doctor Daniel Davidson George.

Okpe, a former chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Abuja, who led the Federal Government delegation of medical experts to Liberia during the last Ebola epidemic in that country, was alleged to have impersonated the said George by adopting his full names parades as his own and using his three certificates to secure employment with the federal government. The accused was employed as a Senior Medical Officer in 2006 on Grade Level 12 with the federal ministry of health where he was alleged to have been drawing monthly salaries and allowances before the long arm of the law caught up with him.