Ogunsakin's UniAbuja Scandal...The Big Cover Up! …Police Chief in Serial Fraud ...Police, EFCC Connections
Tall, huge and light skinned, Tunde Johnson Ogunsakin, a Deputy Commissioner of Police,DCP is one officer in the Nigeria Police force that has never known stress all through his career postings. His has always been grade A postings from his graduation from the Police Academy till he became the Director of operations of Nigeria's anti-gaft police, EFCC where he ran into troubled waters after about a year there. His colleagues in the police see him as one of the spoilt brats who ride on the back of godfathers and "kolanuts" to always remain in cossy offices.
The spoilt child mentality that runs in this police chief must have pushed him to try to push his luck too far when he decided to enrol for a law degree programme at the University of Abuja in 2005. Rather than use his brain, it was gathered that the comfort loving police officer abandoned lecture classrooms soon after he was admitted to study law and decided to pay lecturers and students of his children's age to start writing his examinations, course works and assessment tests for him.
According to findings from the school, it did not take time before his tricks were exposed by a hard to compromise lecturer from the English Dept where Ogunsakin went to register for a compulsory GST 101 course in his first year in the school. He was caught in an exam fraud.The school authority in a memo dated 4th May 2009 when the police chief was caught in yet another exam fraud confirmed this. The memo endorsed by the Varsity's registrar, M.B Modibo with reference number UA/R/GEN/50 disclosed that "the above named student(Tunde Ogunsakin-matric no.05251064) was alleged to have been involved in some form of examination malpractice during the 2005/2006 academic session."
advertisement
Our findings revealed that Ogunsakin was able to survive expulsion from the university authority after bribing his way through to ensure that the process of his expulsion was stalled till date. Rather than being deterred, the police chief was said to have perfected his art and secured classmates as well as senior students to write most of his exams for him without anyone raising an eyebrow. That arrangement however changed on 7th April, 2009 while he was a serving director of operations in EFCC. He was again caught by a lecturer not on his pay roll, Larry O.C Chukwu. He was said to have procured a 500 level student, Bright Edobor to write a course assessment test on Law of Equity(LAW403) for him.
The scandal became a public issue when an online publication reported the fraud on 22nd April with a full report of the scam on the cover page of a Nigerian national paper, Compass on 24th April, 2009. That was said to have prompted late President Umar Musa Yaradua to order for the sack of Ogunsakin from the EFCC with another directive that disciplinary action should be taken against him.
More than a year after the presidential order, the police authority has only managed to provide security cover for Ogunsakin by withdrawing him from the EFCC and hide him at the force headquarters. It was gathered that on its own part the EFCC has made several attempts to prosecute the exam fraud after a six count charge was said to have been drafted against him but the pressures from Ogunsakin's godfathers both in the police and political quarters were said to have drawn back the hand of prosecution while the University of Abuja authorities were said to have caved in under the heavy influence of bribes to foot drag on all the exam fraud cases involving Ogunsakin before the school's exam misconduct committee.
Ogunsakin who is said to be one of the richest police officers in service appears not only wealthy in liquid cash and assets hidden all around, but so powerful that he has remained unmovable, untouchable and above the law. Sources at the force headquarters in Abuja however hinted that the new IGP, Hafiz Ringim may not have the space to tolerate officers in the mode of Ogunsakin in his bid to entrench discipline and excellence in the force. Will the law and its enforcement agents be able to summon courage to make one of their own answer charges for serial exam fraud one day soon? The answer rests with the new IGP, EFCC and the University of Abuja authorities.
Reader's Comments