A Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin has sentenced a retired Deputy Director of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Dare Adebowale Oladapo, to two years imprisonment for falsifying his age and unlawfully receiving over ₦1.2 million in salaries after his official retirement date.
According to a statement by the spokesperson for the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Demola Bakare, the judgment was delivered on October 7, 2025, by Justice Ibrahim Yusuf, who found Oladapo guilty of age falsification and corrupt self-enrichment — offences contrary to Sections 25(1)(a) and 25(1)(b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
The case originated from a petition by Ilorin-based lawyer, F. F. Ikebundu, which triggered an ICPC investigation that uncovered how Oladapo altered his official records to indicate a false date of birth — November 11, 1964, instead of his actual date, November 11, 1959 — to fraudulently prolong his service years.
During the trial, prosecutors Kalu Ugbo and Zainab Moshood established that Oladapo continued to collect salaries and allowances amounting to ₦1,233,258.95 between December 2019 and April 2020, four months after he should have retired.
Justice Yusuf consequently sentenced him to two years in prison with an option of ₦100,000 fine on each count, and ordered him to refund the ₦1.23 million he illegally earned.
Bakare confirmed that the convict had since paid both the ₦200,000 fine and the ₦1.23 million refund into the ICPC Recovery Account as directed by the court.
Bakare reiterated the commission’s resolve to sustain its crackdown on fraudulent practices in the public sector and safeguard the integrity of Nigeria’s civil service.
In a related development, earlier reports revealed that the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation had identified and suspended salaries of several federal civil servants for similar offences involving falsification of age and service years.
The Head of Service, Folashade Yemi-Esan, disclosed in 2022 that the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) had exposed and eliminated about 70,000 ghost workers from government payrolls.
Similarly, in 2021, the Nigeria Police investigated top management staff of the National Assembly over alleged falsification of birth records to extend their tenure, underscoring a recurring pattern of corruption within the bureaucracy.
