Ondo Government Suspends Senior Officials Over Teacher Recruitment Fraud

The Ondo State Government has officially suspended three senior officials for their alleged role in a recruitment fraud linked to the recent employment exercise for teachers in the state.

The suspended officers include two directors and a deputy director, who were removed from duty following the directive of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation into the job racketeering scandal.

According to reports, the officials were accused of collecting between ₦500,000 and ₦700,000 from unsuspecting job seekers, depending on their academic qualifications, in exchange for fraudulent appointment letters.

The scam was uncovered after several individuals staged a protest, claiming they were unfairly excluded from the biometric verification exercise for newly employed teachers. However, investigations later revealed that most of the protesters had presented forged employment documents, which raised suspicion.

In an official statement released by Prince Ebenezer Adeniyan, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Aiyedatiwa, the government clarified that the protesters were not among the more than 2,000 teachers legitimately recruited and already deployed across various schools in the state.

Adeniyan explained that internal findings confirmed that the three suspended officials at the Ondo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) had conspired with external accomplices to provide fake appointment and posting letters to unsuspecting applicants in exchange for large sums of money.

Governor Aiyedatiwa’s spokesperson emphasized:

“The attention of the Governor has been drawn to a protest by some individuals who claimed they were wrongly excluded from the SUBEB recruitment process. To clarify, these protesters were not genuine employees of the state but rather victims of fraud. They paid money to scammers and were issued counterfeit letters. During biometric verification, their documents were discovered to be invalid.

Disciplinary action has been taken against the three SUBEB officials found guilty of colluding with outsiders to exploit job seekers.”

This development highlights the government’s resolve to maintain transparency and accountability in public service recruitment while assuring citizens that fraudulent practices will not be tolerated.