A scandal of a sort related to age of retirement is rocking the Imo state civil servant as one government employee, Mr Dominic Edomobi has been accused to have falsified his age to allegedly remain in service for years.
Information available to Trumpeta has it that the scandal is causing displeasure in the state work force as tongues are wagging about favouritism in the handling of the matter.
According to information available to the newspaper, Edomobi was alleged to have been retired in 2016 after 35 years of service but was surreptitiously brought back to service to the Office of the Auditor General for Local Governments in June 2019, by the immediate past Administration.
Edomobi was accused to have been involved in age falsifications, by relying in court affidavits to gain undue advantage.
A top civil servant in the state was said to have officially reported the alleged age scam to the Civil Service Commission, through the Permanent Secretary Civil Service Commission, but Trumpeta learnt that till date no action has been taken by the Civil Service Commission.
From what Trumpeta learnt, “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 Petition which was sent to government explained that Edomobi alleged that the worker may have falsified his age to remain in service , thereby deceiving the Civil Service Commission to enable him remain in the service.
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. That’s 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…”
A top official of the civil service who didn’t want her name in print when confronted about the allegations said that there is no Commission in place to investigate the matter
Speaking on phone in his reaction, Mr Dominic Edomobi on he declined to comment 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, arguing that he is a Civil Servant.
