A private citizen, Odeneho Kwaku Takyi, popularly known as Sir Obama, has formally petitioned President John Dramani Mahama to remove from office the CEO of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), Tanko Rashid-Computer, over allegations of academic fraud.

Mr Rashid-Computer is also the Deputy Director of Elections and IT for the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).

In a petition forwarded to the Jubilee House on Thursday, June 12, 2025, the petitioner alleges that "Mr Sofo Tanko Rashid Computer holds a fraudulent PhD in Public Administration purportedly obtained in 2016 from an unaccredited Kinsnow University in the United States of America."

"This grave situation does not only represent a significant breach of public trust and a scandalous act of academic fraud but also directly contravenes the fundamental principles enshrined in the 1992 Constitution and Code of Conduct 2025 for public officials (Promulgated by your very good self) and other laws of the Republic of Ghana," parts of the petition read.

The petitioner attached findings of his supposed investigations into the activities of the said Kingson University, from where the supposed PhD was secured by Mr Rashid-Computer, and concluded that "the University neither exists in the United States nor any other part of the globe".

Among other things, the petitioner claimed that the school is not captured as part of the accredited institutions in the USA and was "conspicuously absent from all authoritative databases of recognised and accredited universities in the United States, including those maintained by the US Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation".

The petitioner also referred to a letter supposedly written by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to Mr Rashid-Computer, asking him to stop the usage of the 'Dr' title "after discovering the opaqueness of his PhD credentials".

The petitioner enumerated the violations of the Code of Conduct for public officers and drew attention to the potential criminal offences committed by Mr Rashid-Computer, such as "defrauding by false pretence by presenting a fake PhD to secure or maintain a high-ranking government position like CEO of GIFEC."

He thus called for the GIFEC CEO's immediate dismissal, an inquiry into how he used the documents to secure his appointment at GIFEC, and an investigation into whether other appointees are also guilty of that offence.

The petitioner also wants the President to direct GTEC to conduct a further probe into the Bachelor's and postgraduate degrees of Rashid-Computer and instruct the relevant state security agencies to prosecute him.

He also wants the President to implement a stringent verification of academic credentials for current and future appointees to prevent such incidents from recurring and apply the full force of Section 5 of the Code of Conduct 2025, which outlines measures against violations, ranging from a formal reprimand to termination of appointment.

The petition comes barely a day after the petitioner, who had been on a constant social media campaign against Mr Rashid-Computer's academic credentials, responded to him in a strongly worded statement on Facebook for using offensive comments on him in a Joy Prime interview on Wednesday, June 11, where Mr Rashid-Computer insisted that his PhD was credible.

The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) has, in recent times, raised concerns about the use of fake academic titles. According to GTEC, the misuse of honorary titles contravenes the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023) and damages public confidence in the country’s educational system.

The Commission stressed that only accredited institutions are permitted to award honorary degrees, and recipients should not present them as academic qualifications.

A few weeks ago, President Mahama withdrew the appointment of a member of the NHIA board who was accused of being a fake medical doctor.

The petitioner took to his Facebook page on Thursday to officially announce the action he has taken on this matter.

Read Also: Watch NDC’s Rashid Tanko-Computer defend his PhD amid public scrutiny

Below is the full petition: