They emphasised on the need to address the allegation before it attracts undue attention capable of exposing PTI in the most devastating manner.
Some staff of the Petroleum Training Institute in Effurun, Delta State have raised the alarm and called for the intervention of Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources (Oil) over allegations of age falsification by the acting Principal of the Institute, Dr. Samuel Onoji.
This is contained in a petition addressed to the Minister and copied to the Head of Service of the Federation, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, DPM Ministry of Petroleum Resources, and the Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practice and other related offences Commission and the Chairman, the Code of Conduct Bureau.
The petition, obtained by SaharaReporters on Thursday, alleged that Dr. Samuel Onoji's records were altered by changing his date of Birth to 20th of June 1966 thus adjusting his retirement date to 20th of June 2026 when he will be sixty one (61) years instead of 20th of June 2025 when he will be sixty (60) years of age.
According to the document, Onoji joined the services of Petroleum Training Institute on the 16th of October 1992 and allegedly presented a declaration of age at the point of documentation duly signed on the 21st of June 1978 by his father Mr. Michael Onoji as the declarant where he make an oath at the Ughelli Magistrate District holding at Ughelli under the Magistrate Courts of old Bendel state of Nigeria by stating the 20th of June 1965 as his Date of Birth.
The staff in the document signed by one Nathaniel J. Obirinachi explained that the problem would certainly remain immortal as it would perpetually be a tarnishing reference not only to Dr. Onoji and the academics of the Institute but also to the entire PTI community.
They emphasised on the need to address the allegation before it attracts undue attention capable of exposing PTI in the most devastating manner.
The petition partly reads; "We write to bring to the attention and appeal for the magnanimous and judicious intervention of the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil) on the “moral, ethical and integrity crises” bedevilling the Institute following the recent exposure of forgery of records (see Appendix A: Nominal Roll) and (Appendix B: Declaration of Age) involving the Acting Principal of Petroleum Training Institute Dr. Samuel Onoji.
"The Honourable Minister may be shocked to know that the forgery scandal involving Dr. Samuel Onoji is no longer a classified information having pervaded the entire niche of the Institute hence unlocking a floodgate of unprintable condemnations and derogatory conversations. This regrettable occurrence is indisputably disheartening as virtually every stakeholder of the Institute including staff, students, cleaners, securities, contractors, vendors and so on have received the news with keen interest, absolute shock and utter disbelief thus becoming a grave source of concern to us. In all honesty, all is not well in PTI.
"With due respect to the learned Honourable Minister, we understand that forgery aside from being a criminal offence as provided in sections 362 to 364 of the penal code and sections 463 to 467 of the criminal code and also a serious misconduct as provided in section 100402 (a) of the Public Service Rules (PSR), it is also a grave act of dishonesty as well as an exceedingly damaging scandal which is extremely worrisome especially as it emanates from an academic who is typically and ideally expected to exhibit an exemplary conduct not only to students but to staff as well.
"This problem will certainly remain immortal as it will perpetually be a tarnishing reference, to the entire PTI community thus need to be eternally addressed before it attracts undue attention capable of exposing PTI in the most devastating manner.
"With this forgery emanating from an academic, it is very clear that our attribute as agents of knowledge transmission and role models is clearly questionable therefore our responsibilities towards assisting the Institute to achieve its cardinal mandate of awarding certificates base on learning and character of individual students are seriously traumatised thus affecting our zeal in realising our constitutional mandate of the provision of middle level manpower in the Nigerian Oil Industry.
"Arising from the above, we are kindly appealing for magnanimous and urgent intervention of the Honourable Minister to use your good office to do justice by intervening and preserving our moral identity before the issue attracts undue attention especially from media so that you can save the Institute from chaos and debacles capable of dissolving our cohesion, ethical distinctiveness and destroying the Institute."
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