The deputy director over human resources at the Ohio Department of Health is under investigation because his resume implied he has a master's degree.

The state investigation also will look into allegations that Okwudili "Didi" Anekwe operated an African export business from his state job, Inspector General Thomas P. Charles said. On Friday, investigators confiscated Anekwe's office computer.

Anekwe, whose title is deputy director of employee services, said yesterday that the allegations are false, made by a former political appointee of then-Gov. Bob Taft who now is a civil servant in his office. The investigation will prove that he has done nothing wrong, he said.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure this out," Anekwe said.

The legal counsel of the Department of Health is also investigating whether Anekwe violated departmental rules. His March 2008 resume said under the category of education: "The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, Master of City and Regional Planning."

Anekwe took coursework at the university but doesn't hold a master's degree, university spokesman Jim Lynch said. Lynch wouldn't release other details concerning Anekwe's time at the university.

Anekwe said he never intended to mislead anyone. He noted that he didn't put a year after the degree.

"That's an accepted practice" indicating that a degree is pending, Anekwe said. "Now, could I have been a little more explicit? Absolutely. There's no two ways about it."

A tip sheet created by the Society for Human Resource Management encourages workers to list education even if it hasn't ended with a degree, using language such as "Working toward BS in Accounting, University of Akron, Akron, OH - Expected graduation June, (year)."

Anekwe's position -- third from the top of the department, and in charge of all human resources functions, including verifying resumes -- did not require a master's degree, said Department of Health spokesman Robert Jennings. The department was aware before hiring Anekwe that he didn't have a master's degree, Jennings said.

The departmental review began after an inquiry about the resume last week by The Dispatch, Jennings said. The recommendation of the department's legal counsel to Director Alvin D. Jackson could range from taking no action to firing Anekwe, Jennings said.

"This is something that has the attention of the director," Jennings said.

The copy of Anekwe's resume now on file at the department says "work" after the citation about the master's degree, indicating that it was not completed, Jennings said.

That document isn't dated and is different from the one on file with the Department of Administrative Services, which is dated March 6, 2008.

Anekwe said he revised his resume -- before starting his job on March 17, 2008 -- to clarify that he didn't have the degree. He did so after a department official brought the issue to his attention, he said.

On another resume on file with Administrative Services, apparently from 1992 when he applied for a state job with the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Anekwe listed "August 1992" after the citation about the master's degree. He said he learned from Ohio State after he submitted that resume that he was one class short of his requirement for the degree.

On another resume in 2000, he listed that the degree was pending.

Anekwe used to be an owner of Intercontinental Distribution Systems Ltd., which distributed medical devices to Africa, but he said the firm no longer exists and he has never operated the business from his state office.

Anekwe, 54, is paid about $100,000 a year. He said the entire episode has motivated him to complete his degree at Ohio State.

bbush@dispatch.com