Ondo gov directs probe into forged teachers’ appointment letters

Mr Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, Ondo State Governor, has instructed a probe into alleged fake letters issued to some applicants who applied for teaching appointments in the state.

Some aggrieved applicants had staged a protest in front of the Governor’s Office, Akure, the state capital, on Friday, calling on the governor to investigate the alleged fake appointment letters given to them by officials of the state government.

Recently, the state government embarked on the recruitment of 2,000 teachers into primary and secondary schools across the 18 local government areas of the state, but the protesters were said to have been denied access to continue the process of formal recruitment after allegedly being issued fake appointment letters by some government officials.

In a statement issued by Mr. Ebenezer Adeniyan, on Saturday, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Ayedatiwa ordered the invitation of the concerned applicants as part of the investigation.

According to the statement, the government had already taken disciplinary action against three officials allegedly involved in the scandal.

The statement read, “The attention of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has been drawn to reports of a protest by individuals claiming to have been denied employment during the recent recruitment of teachers by the Ondo State Government through the State Universal Basic Education Board.

“To clarify, those who protested were not teachers but applicants defrauded by scammers who issued fake employment and posting letters during the recruitment exercise, after collecting money from them.

“These defrauded applicants were identified during the biometric verification process and informed that their letters were fake. Already, disciplinary action has been taken against three SUBEB insiders who allegedly connived with external individuals to defraud the applicants.”

The statement noted that over 2,000 teachers duly employed by the government for primary and secondary schools had already commenced work.

“However, Mr Governor has directed the management of SUBEB to invite the victims of the fraud for a meeting, while a committee has been constituted to further look into the matter,” Adeniyan stated.