Woman caught while allegedly writing ICAN exam for Taraba commissioner Sarah Adi

A woman has been caught allegedly sitting the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) examination on behalf of Sarah Enoch Adi, the Commissioner for Finance in Taraba State.

In a video posted by Sahara Reporters, exam supervisors questioned the suspect, who identified herself as Leavitt Felix. Records, however, showed that the registered candidate for that exam was Commissioner Sarah Enoch Adi.

When pressed by supervisors, Felix admitted she was writing the exam on behalf of Sarah Adi. Asked for her own name, she said, “Leavitt Felix.”

Supervisors noted inconsistencies between her statements and the details in their records.

One of the supervisors reminded her that she had earlier claimed to work with the Ministry of Finance, a link that matched the commissioner’s profile.

Although Felix admitted she was sitting the exam for someone else, she denied knowing Sarah personally. She claimed that a man named Joshua had hired her for the task, but said she didn’t know his surname or where he worked.

The exam officials warned that the matter could be reported to the police if she failed to provide more details.

“All the information we are getting here… we are going to get some double information from the police,” one supervisor warned. “We want to make it easy. So, if you give us the information, you just go. There is no need to waste our time.”

This is another of the many controversies associated with the commissioner since her appointment. In August, Taraba State civil servants urged Governor Agbu Kefas to sack the state’s Accountant General, Mr. Gauis Danjuma, and Commissioner for Finance, Mrs. Adi, over alleged irregularities in the biometric verification exercise.

Speaking with journalists on the second day of their strike, the workers expressed outrage that the exercise had removed more than 7,000 names, including those of Directors and Deputy Directors, from the payroll.

They called on the governor to appoint competent replacements capable of repairing the damage and preventing a recurrence.

In June 2025, the Taraba State government, through the Office of the Accountant General and under the supervision of Finance Commissioner Mrs. Adi, with coordination by the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, Mallam Haruna Abdulkadir, conducted a biometric verification exercise for civil servants, which declared more than 7,000 workers as ‘ghost employees.’”

Meanwhile, according to the Forum of Commissioners of Finance in Nigeria, Adi was born on April 9, 1973, in Wukari, Taraba State (then part of Gongola State), to the family of Mr. and Mrs. Enoch Adi.

She reportedly earned a Doctorate in Accounting from Nasarawa State University, Keffi, in 2023, and a Master’s in Banking and Finance from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 2011.

Earlier, she reportedly obtained both a Higher National Diploma (2006) and a National Diploma (2004) in Accountancy from Plateau State Polytechnic, Jos, as well as a Diploma in Tax Administration from Kaduna State Polytechnic in 1998.

In August 2023, Governor Agbu Kefas appointed her as Commissioner for Finance, Budget, and Economic Planning in Taraba State, a position she continues to hold.