From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Group, Medical Professionals on Sunday raised an alarm over suspected retirement fraud in the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), calling on President Bola Tinubu to act very fast by ordering an investigation into the alleged age falsification case involving the Council’s Registrar, Dr. Tajudeen Adisa Bolanle Sanusi.
Chairman of the group, Dr. Yomilola Ogun, who raised the alarm in a statement titled; “Time to save our medical profession and respect for the Rule of Law: Why the President and Security Agents Must Act Fast”, revealed that the group’s independent investigation confirmed that Dr. Sanusi has refused to vacate office almost a year after surpassing the statutory public service retirement age of 60 on September 19, 2022.
According to Dr. Ogun, “incontrovertible facts revealed that Dr.Tajudeen Sanusi was born on September 19, 1962, and he attained 60 years in September 2022, but still performing official duties as Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, in flagrant disobedience of Rule 020411 of the Public Service”.
He said further that “investigations have confirmed that Dr. Sanusi, who became Acting Registrar of the Council on December 16, 2016, was confirmed and appointed substantive Registrar in February 2018 for four years, a tenure that expired in February 2022”.
“Using his connections in the Federal Ministry of Health, a series of compromises in civil service procedure led to his reappointment for an additional 4 years that would last till February 2026 for which he would have been in office as Registrar for almost 10 years and attain the age of 64 years. At the moment, he has so far been in office for almost 7 years.
“We call on the Department of State Service (DSS) to swing into action by gathering more intelligence of this scandalous age falsification and ensure that the rules of the civil service are respectfully adhered to, and we expect the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) to step up efforts as well, on this matter.”
“We would like to assure Nigerians that this is a patriotic duty that we will never relent on, no matter whose ox is gored and we are confident that the no-nonsense President Tinubu and the highly proactive DSS and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) leadership won’t let this fraud get swept under the rug”, the group warned.
The group, therefore insisted that “all the salaries and allowances Dr. Sanusi has so far enjoyed under this questionable tenure of office be returned to national treasury immediately”.
