Desperation after deportation from United States led me into fraud —Suspect

A suspected fraudster, Ayodeji (surname withheld), who was apprehended by the Oyo State command of Western Nigeria Security Network, codenamed Amotekun, for duping people of money in the guise of processing company registration or travelling abroad, has confessed that desperation led him to the act.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that Ayodeji, who pretended to be a government agent, deceived victims that he could help register their companies with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and told others that he could facilitate their travelling abroad for a fee.

He was said to have collected money for obtaining international passports and company registration, after which he started avoiding the victims it was at that point they realised that they had been defrauded.

The second-in-command of Amotekun Corps in Oyo, Kazeem Babalola Akinro, who confirmed the suspect’s arrest, said that the security agency mounted surveillance on Ayodeji a.k.a Harry after the matter was reported by the victims.

According to Akinro, “Ayodeji specialised in defrauding victims. He collected money from about four people at Boluwaji, Sanyo area of Ibadan in cunning ways.

“He presented himself as a government agent out to help those who needed contract. He would ask them for their Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) certificates, and when they didn’t have, he would volunteer to help them process them for a fee. For others, he told them that he could help them process their travelling abroad.

“When the four victims realised that they had been defrauded, they reported to us and we started searching for him. Eventually, he was traced to Ekiti State where he hails from. In our investigation, we got information about a female friend of his who frowned at what he did when she learnt of it.

“She agreed to cooperate with us to get him. Since he had been avoiding coming to Ibadan where his victims were, they agreed to meet in Gbongan, Osun State. That was how Amotekun Corps in the town apprehended him and took him to the headquarters in Osogbo, from where we brought him to Ibadan.

“During interrogation, he confessed to all the money he had collected from his victims, along with their international passports. The money he collected totalled N1.398 million, which he admitted.”

It was said that his mother came to Amotekun’s office and arrangements were being made for the refund of the money.

In an interview, the 51-year-old suspect said that he is a graduate of Industrial Mathematics of the then Ondo State University, now Ekiti State University, in 1997.

He spoke thus: “I did my national youth service in Katsina State but never worked with anyone as I continued with the business of log cutting I had been used to before going to tertiary institution.

“It is true that I collected money from some people to help them register their companies. We usually googled CAC and applied online for company registration. I did two successfully.

“I told some others that I could help in their quest to travel abroad for vacation. They gave me money to get them international passports or renew the almost expired ones, which I told them I could do. I collected N100,000 from each person for the passports.

“I knew I was deceiving them, but desperation led me into the act. I regret all I did.”

When asked what made him so desperate, Ayodeji said: “I struggled and travelled to the United States of America in December 2021 but was deported at the airport.”

Explaining how his story went, the suspected fraudster narrated: “The agent who collected close to N2 million from me said that the visa he got would only grant me entry to the US, and that every other thing would be handled thereafter if I should succeed in being let in. He didn’t tell me that the visa he got for me was fake. I sold my property, including the machines I was using to cut trees.”

When asked whether he was given a date for visa interview by the US embassy in Nigeria, he said “no.”

He continued: “The agent was the one who arranged my flight to the US. I boarded an Ethiopian Airline flight to Chicago along with three others who he also got money from to help. We are from the same town and village in Ekiti. The travel agent was staying in Lagos. He was introduced to us by our kinsman in the US. He told us that the agent was the one who helped him. That was why we believed he could do it.

“We got to the airport and when our passports were checked, we were taken to a room for questioning.  By then, we knew we were in trouble. We were kept in a building and detained for three months.

“When being deported back to Nigeria in April 2022, we were handcuffed. I can’t describe the pain we went through. We were handed over to the immigration officials at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. We were fined and later released.  Our passports were stamped in the US and Nigeria, so we can’t travel there again for life.

“I was so ashamed that I could not go back or even let my family know that I was back. My kinsmen however went back back home. I stayed in Lagos with someone from Edo State. He was also deported but he had accommodation in Lagos. He was the one who taught me how to use forged documents to deceive innocent victims.

“It was desperation that pushed me into committing the crime. I regret my action so much because I have tainted my family’s name.

“I will say that the issue of desperation was caused by my mother who asked me to leave my wife because she could not conceive.  I’m her only child, and my father has other wives. However, my wife, an Igbo woman, was the one responsible for payment of my school fees while I was studying. I couldn’t leave her, so I left home. She was even the one who gave me so much money during the attempt to live abroad. We are still together till now and we have been married for 15 years.

“I have wept before speaking to you. What has been my gain in all my desperation? I have only destroyed myself.”

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