People Are Gaining Employment By Providing Fake Governor’s Letter In Enugu State

​Four months after the personal phone number of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State was hacked, the fraudsters have devised another means.

This time, we gathered that some unknown government officials were now forging the Governor’s official letter head as well as his signature and using same to get people employed into some of the parastatals in the State’s civil service.

It could be recalled that in March this year, the Chief press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Uwakwe Abugu, had in a statement disclosed that, “this afternoon, March 2, 2016, the Airtel cell phone number of His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Governor of Enugu State, was hacked by unknown persons for suspected fraudulent activities.

“This announcement is to, hereby, draw the attention of members of the public, especially those who have been reached or contacted by the suspected fraudsters and to urge them to totally disregard any communication extended to them through that cell phone number purporting to have emanated from His Excellency, the Governor.”

Two weeks after, Abugu issued another statement alerting members of the public that the fraudsters have hacked and cloned the Facebook account of Governor Ugwuanyi.

His words:

“Regrettably, the attention of the governor, has again, been drawn to yet another phase of suspected fraudulent activities, this time, in the social media, where Facebook accounts have been opened with the name and photograph of the governor, perhaps, with the aim of defrauding unsuspecting members of the public.

“This urgent announcement is, therefore, to alert and urge members of the public not to fall prey to the antics and possible nefarious activities of these suspected fraudsters. All official business dealings with the Enugu State government and the governor should be transacted through the Government House, Enugu, and not through any social media platform.

“The governor, however, appreciates the genuine support and goodwill of the various groups and supporters, who have remained steadfast in supporting him as he serves the good people of Enugu State with the fear of God.”

However, few days ago, reports emerged that fraudsters, who are suspected to be in the government circles, are now getting people employed in the State’s civil service using faked Governor’s letter head and signature.

A source told us that the activities of the syndicate came to limelight following an alarm raised by a staff of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, Teaching Hospital, Parklane.

The source disclosed that several persons had already being employed in the hospital using the forged document, adding that the syndicate would have been exposed a long time ago but for the uncooperative attitude of the Chief Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr. Gabriel E. Njeze.

According to him,

“this has been going on for a long time now; the admin officerat the Parklane has severally protested against this but the CMD remained adamant.

“The admin on several occasions raised the alarm, asking the CMD to investigate the letter but he refused; the letters kept coming and he kept forcing the admin to issue them employment letters and to create staff files for them.

“It was expected that when such letter comes, the CMD would through the Secretary to the State Government find out if the letter was genuine, but this he never did. It this raised suspicion that he may know much about it.

“This continued until some members of staff could not bear the situation; they had to alert the Governor and he was really so much embarrassed over the development.”

Meanwhile, the source further told us that the enraged Governor Ugwuanyi, upon receiving the information, headed straight to the Parklane, where he lashed out on the CMD.

He further stated that the Governor, who felt so much disappointed with the attitude of the CMD, had vowed to ensure that all those involved in the scam were brought to book.

Several efforts made by our correspondent to obtain reaction from the CMD proved abortive. He was called severally on Friday but he didn’t pick the call.

This text message was later sent to him:

“Good evening, we are doing a report on the alleged employment of some workers at the Parklane using fake Governor’s letter. We need a reaction from your office please.” He didn’t respond to the message.

On Monday, our correspondent called his mobile line again. When he eventually picked, he admitted receiving the text message and then asked “hope I have the right to say I don’t want that report.”

Our correspondent told him that he had the right to make comment or not, but that he had no such right to stop the report. He insisted he was not going to make any comment, maintaining that “the matter is very sensitive.”

The State Government is yet to make official statement on the matter, but a source disclosed that the development has created fear in government circles, as there are indications that so many other people may have been employed in such manner in other agencies and parastatals.

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