MONROVIA – Mr. Randall M. Dobayou, II, the Deputy Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia (EPA) has been struggling to defend his academic credentials, claiming that he was cleared by the African Methodist Episcopal University (AMEU) for graduation since 2013, but authorities at the university informed FrontPageAfrica that Mr. Dobayou completed his final courses last semester and awaits graduation for his undergraduate degree.
Report by Lennart Dodoo, [email protected]
He was among several students who were expelled from the university in 2012 for unruly behavior when they staged a protest against former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf when she visited the university.
Defending his credentials during a press conference on Tuesday, Dobayou said, “I completed all of my courses at AMEU before I was suspended. I will resign today if you go to the school and prove that I have outstanding courses there. The only thing I did not do was I have not had the opportunity to formally march as a graduate, but marching does not make you a graduate.”
However, when contacted by FrontPageAfrica, the Assistant Registrar for Records, Mr. Benjamin G. Everett, said Mr. Dobayou completed his outstanding courses during the first semester of the current academic year, therefore, he does not have a degree yet and has not been processed for graduation.
Mr. Everett, however, said upon the completion of his final courses, he requested an attestation and transcript from the school which were given to him with the exception of his degree.
“If you saw the document he displayed, you would see that the date on it is 2020 or December 2019. It was very recent that we handed him his credentials because he just completed his courses. He does not have a degree yet. This means he has not graduated yet. He is to be part of the next graduating class,” Mr. Everett told FrontPageAfrica.
Mr. Everett’s disclosure runs contrary to Mr. Dobayou’s boast that he obtained an attestation from the University as a graduating senior in 2013 as part of documents he filed to obtain a U.S. visa.
Dobayou through messaging app, WhatsApp, confirmed to FrontPageAfrica his credentials obtained from AMEU are dated 2019/2020. He also denied knowledge of a 2013 letter of attestation purportedly from the AMEU in his name, stating, I did not post that to social media. He, however, did not state if that is the same attestation he claimed to have obtained in 2013.
The latest disclosure from AMEU has also brought into questioning Mr. Dobayou’s claim that the obtained a post-graduate certificate in ventilation and refrigeration from the Vatterott Technical College in Iowa, USA. He also claimed to have obtained a graduate certificate from the State of Iowa – National Carrier Readiness Certificate.
“If you saw the document he displayed, you would see that the date on it is 2020 or December 2019. It was very recent that we handed him his credentials because he just completed his courses. He does not have a degree yet. This means he has not graduated yet. He is to be part of the next graduating class.”
Displaying another certificate, he said, “This is from Esco Institute in Chicago that makes me an EPA certified universal technician. You can verify it. You have to have a university credential before enrolling,” he said.
What remains unanswered is how he enrolled for the post-graduate program without having the credentials of an undergraduate.
FrontPageAfrica would later learn from sources close to Dobayou that it was his brother, Carter Dobayou, a wind turbine commissioning technician, based Iowa that encouraged him to take up a certificate program in wind turbine so that he could help him get a job during his stay in the United States.
“He had the opportunity to work with his brother, an expert in the field, when he was in America. His brother accommodated him so that he could make ends meet. There’s no free lunch in America, he had to do something to survive. However, it is unfair for him to take brand himself around as some international expert in Environmental Science when he only obtained a 12-month certificate training,” the family source said.
Sadly, Vatterott College closed all of its campuses on December 17, 2018.
While in the United States, Dobayou served as the Secretary-General of CDC-USA.
As a partisan, he appointed by President George Weah to serve as the Deputy Executive Director of the EPA.
His CV also indicates that he holds a post-graduate degree in Environmental Science from Alabama State University, USA. He did a 12-month course at the Iowa Works (Mason City) where he obtained a postgraduate credential in Conflict Resolution from in October 2015. While in the United States, he also reported having enrolled at the Vatterott Technical College where he earned a certificate in ‘Universal Technician’, with an emphasis in ventilation and refrigeration.