January 14, 2026 – Nigerian honored by Gretchen Whitmer exposed as massive daycare fraudster

In Email/Dossier/Govt Corruption Investigations, Featured Timeline Entries by Katie Weddington

(…) A former professor, Nigerian immigrant Nkechy Ezeh, pleaded guilty last month to wire fraud and tax evasion in a scheme that defrauded Michigan taxpayers out of over $1 million, according to news site MLive.

The misappropriated money had been intended for Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative, an early childhood education program for disadvantaged children. Ezeh was the founder and CEO of ELNC.

“The nonprofit closed in 2023 after Ezeh and former Director of Finance and Administration Sharon Killebrew were accused of embezzling more than $2.5 million combined over several years,” WZZM-TV reported.

Killebrew, 70, was sentenced to four years and six months in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud a federally funded program, according to MLive.

Ezeh faces 20 years for wire fraud. The charge of tax evasion could carry an additional five years in prison.

Nigerian news outlet Business Day reported Ezeh, a former professor at Aquinas College, did not shy away from the public eye, as Whitmer once put her on a state executive committee. She also won several “Woman of the Year” awards.

“Ezeh created nearly $500,000 in fraudulent invoices and established two fictitious daycare businesses to mask the movement of stolen funds,” Business Day reported. “The embezzled money reportedly financed a lavish lifestyle, including international travel to Hawaii, Liberia, and Nigeria.”

This is a woman who, in a 2022 interview with Voyage Michigan, once had the audacity to decry “structural racism” as a problem immigrants had to overcome.

(Read more: The Gateway Pundit, 2/5/2026) (Archive)