Fulton County fired two Nigerians from its information technology department, letting them take the blame for a cyberattack caused by the negligence of their biased American supervisor, according to a lawsuit.
The complaint against the county was filed in federal court Monday by Georgia resident Omotade Adeniyi, a Nigerian with U.S. citizenship who claims he was discriminated and retaliated against in violation of the Civil Rights Act. Adeniyi said he worked for the county for almost 14 years before being fired in July 2024.
Fulton does not comment on pending legal matters, a county spokesperson said Tuesday.
In his complaint, Adeniyi said he and another Nigerian employee in the county’s IT department were placed on administrative leave and fired in response to the cyberattack that disrupted county systems in early 2024. He said their American counterparts and supervisor escaped discipline.
Adeniyi said the hack, which prompted a $10 million software upgrade, was caused by the negligence of his then-supervisor, William “Bill” Clemons, who had bypassed standard security protocols by directing county staff to issue laptops to Adeniyi’s subordinates without proper configuration.
Clemons, the county’s chief technology officer, is not a defendant in the case.
Adeniyi said Clemons became his direct supervisor in November 2023 and that’s when the discrimination began. He said Clemons, an American, called him the N-word and referred to his staff, including another Nigerian, as the “African Americans United Nations.”
Adeniyi said he reported the discrimination to the county’s human resources officials, but nothing was done in response, and Clemons’ inappropriate behavior continued.
At the time, Adeniyi had the title of Technical Operations Manager - System Engineering, the lawsuit says.
It says the hack began in early December 2023, but the county did not discover it until late January 2024 and then delayed fixing the problem while trying to negotiate a lower cost.
Adeniyi said he was placed on administrative leave in February 2024. He said an investigation concluded the hackers gained access through the computers of two senior system engineers for the county, Okestra Soneyin and Steve Gale.
Soneyin, a Nigerian, was also placed on administrative leave and ultimately fired the same day as Adeniyi, according to the complaint. It says Gale, an American, was not disciplined and was eventually promoted to Adeniyi’s position.
Clemons and other American employees directly involved in the incident also escaped blame, Adeniyi said.
He said he complained to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in December 2024 and received the right to sue in June.
Adeniyi wants the county to compensate him for discriminating and retaliating against him on the basis of his national origin, saying it had no legitimate reason to place him on leave and fire him.
Adeniyi’s lawyers in the case did not immediately respond to questions about it.
County officials said in February 2024 they did not pay the hackers a ransom. The notorious LockBit ransomware group claimed responsibility for the attack, officials said at the time.
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