For 20 years, he was a dead man walking — through the highest security areas at Newark Liberty Airport.
A Nigerian national yesterday was busted for spending nearly the past two decades assuming the identity of a slain Queens man to work an airport security job that gave him access to some of the high-volume airport’s most sensitive areas, authorities said.
Newark security supervisor Peter Abimbola “Bimbo” Olumuyia Oyewole, 55, had posed as Jerry Thomas since 1992, when then-41-year-old career criminal Thomas was killed in a YMCA shooting in Queens.
“At first, [Oyewole] denied it and said he was the real Jerry Thomas” when confronted at his home in Elizabeth, a law-enforcement source told The Post.
“Then we told him, ‘You’ve had a good run for 20 years — but the run is over. We know who the real Jerry Thomas was,’ ” the source said.
That’s when Oyewole ’fessed up.
“He was pretty cool about it,” the source said.
Oyewole, who came to the United States illegally in 1989, told authorities he bought Thomas’ ID from another Nigerian to find work. Officials are still probing how he got a birth certificate, Social Security card and other documents.
Queens homicide detectives went to Newark yesterday to question Oyewole about Thomas’ murder but have no evidence to suggest he was involved.
Port Authority Deputy Inspector General Michael Nestor said Oyewole was arrested after an anonymous tip to the IG’s office.
His bust raises serious questions about the busy airport’s security.
Oyewole worked for EJC Security Services, an outside contractor, and over the decades passed multiple federal, state and airport background checks, authorities said.
Thomas had a long criminal record, but Oyewole had none. He was apparently able to pass fingerprint checks because his were somehow never linked to Thomas’ other identity information.
At Newark Airport, Oyewole supervised 30 security guards and had clearance to go in and out of secure areas, including tarmacs.
FJC Security spokesman Michael McKeon said his employer “inherited” Oyewole from prior airport security contractor Haynes in October 2003.
FJC “re-vetted” all identity documents they had for the man they knew as Thomas and ran his fingerprints through the New Jersey State Police system.
Oyewole was charged with identity theft. He is being held in an Essex County jail awaiting arraignment.
Additional reporting by Dan Prendergast