Court fines Nigerian for attempting to acquire Ghana Card in Tamale

The Tamale District Magistrate Court has convicted Doris Okeke, a 37-year-old Nigerian, for attempting to acquire Ghana Card using a false identity.

Magistrate Amadu Issifu fined her 200 penalty units, the equivalent of GHc2,400 or in default serve 18 months in jail.

She paid the fine to avoid a jail term after pleading guilty to all four counts of residing in the country without a permit, working in Ghana without a permit, obtaining a self ID card and attempting to obtain a Ghana ID card.

She was arraigned following a report made to the Northern Regional office of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) about her illegal activities.

Doris Okeke used the name Doris Dubik as her Ghanaian identity to get a voter’s ID card prior to the 2020 elections, applied for Ghana Card, and gained admission into the Tamale Technical University (TTU) as a student.

The court ordered her to submit all her documents to the GIS to be presented to the registration officials to delete her information from the National Identification Authority’s system.

Assistant Inspector Mr Christian Kobla Kekeli Zilevu, Northern Regional Public Relations Officer of GIS, told the Ghana News Agency in Tamale that the GIS received a report on the convict’s activities and moved in to pick her up at the TTU Campus on March 14, and upon interrogation, she confirmed being a Nigerian and residing in Ghana since 2015.

Mr Zilevu revealed that the convict’s husband, Oliver Okeke, also a Nigerian, acquired the Ghana voter’s ID.

He said Oliver Okeke, who used Michael Okeke as his Ghanaian identity, was fined 240 penalty units equivalent to Gh¢3000 but would serve two years in jail if he defaulted.

He said Doris and her husband alleged that they were assisted by the complainant to acquire the Ghana ID cards, adding investigations were ongoing to ascertain whether the complainant helped them in that regard.