Immigration officer dupes siblings of N625,000, escapes
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| Obeye and Lucky |
He could easily pass for someone who was
tired of everything around him, not even with the way he carried
himself, but beyond his gloomy demeanour, he is truly hurting, angry and
deeply frustrated, all at once, though he tried to hide it with some
fake smiles.
Iduh Lucky, as he introduced himself to
our correspondent when he came to share his story with Saturday PUNCH at
the PUNCH headquarters recently, is not only sad about the unemployment
crisis in the country, but more so because he has been duped of
thousands of naira by a senior immigration officer who offered to help
him secure a job and is now nowhere to be found.
The way Lucky strapped his brown envelope
to his armpit as he entered the waiting room at PUNCH PLACE gave a
clear impression that he had ground-shaking documents in the
weather-beaten pack. He left no one in doubt about this as he held on to
it tightly until it was time to unveil the content,
which he later did,
carefully.
Lucky said he met the officer, Ekon
Godwin Obeye, a Superintendent of Immigration, through his childhood
friend shortly before the ill-fated 2014 recruitment exercise and that
he paid a total of N625,000 to the officer.
Pushed to the wall by the frustrations
that could only accompany seven years of joblessness, Lucky was open to
anything that could fetch him a job. Thus, when a childhood and trusted
friend of his, identified simply as Godwin, who was also looking for
job, told him he knew someone in Immigration that could help them get a
job, he jumped at the offer and they both hoped for the best.
Based on the assurance from his friend, he said he was optimistic the man would help.
Lucky recalled that shortly after that, his friend got a job and he had to relate with Obeye directly.
“He invited me to his office, Immigration
office, Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos, on September 23, 2013. I met with
his colleagues and he later took me to his house at Lewis Street. I met
his wife and children, and all those erased my doubts.”
Lucky said he met other guys in the
house, most of whom gave money to him while he handed them
mouth-watering promises of their “employment letter coming soon,” which
he said gave him an indication that he was not alone.
He said, “His wife was also there. When
those people left, he told me that the deal would cost me N250,000 but I
told him I didn’t have that kind of money, so he said I should pay half
and pay the remaining when I got my appointment letter. I agreed.
“Right there, I called my dad to send me
N100,000, which he sent to my account that same day. Obeye wanted the
money in cash but I insisted on paying it into his account so I could
have the record. I paid the money into his account that day.”
Lucky, who graduated in 2008 and had
remained unemployed since then, kept warming up for the job that was to
come, but when it was taking forever, he started disturbing Obeye, who
kept reassuring him and stressed the need for him to be patient.
He explained, “He kept promising, but in
December, he said I should send him another money because he would need
to settle the personal assistant to the minister. All these happened
before the test. And there were times he would tell me to send him
credit and transport fare to Abuja. On his request, I paid him another
N25,000 on December 15, 2013, making it N125,000.”
Soon
after the test, which was later cancelled owing to the tragedy that
characterised it, Lucky said he started getting worried and had to tell
Obeye to refund his money.
He explained, “I kept going to his house,
but when he wasn’t forthcoming. When I went with my younger brother to
his house in June 2014, he asked for two weeks, saying he had a Qatar
visa programme he wanted to introduce to me. I declined, but my brother
showed interest in it. It even caused fight between my brother and I.
“He said the programme would cost
N500,000, covering ticket, visa and other things. He said someone would
be there waiting to receive him and give him a job. While we were there,
other persons came to his house for the visa and that convinced my
brother.”
“His wife managed to convince my brother
and father when they spoke on the phone, but I had my reservations. She
assured my father that the visa would be ready in three weeks. On July
11, 2014, my father sent the money and we paid it.”
On the date Obeye gave Lucky that his
brother would travel, he said they packed his brother’s bags and left
for the airport but that they had to go back home in shame when they
couldn’t reach Obeye again. He said they even met some of the people
they had met in Obeye’s house before but they all had to go back home.
After several calls to Obeye, which were not successful, it finally
dawned on Lucky that he had been swindled twice by the same officer.
He said, “I visited his house many times
but I didn’t meet him. I went to his office but I learnt he travelled to
Abuja on an assignment. My father even came and he met the wife but she
kept pleading for more time. When we couldn’t get him, we had to report
the case at the Lion Building police station.”
Lucky explained that Obeye’s neighbour
paid him N150,000 in October last year, part of which he said he had
spent to “mobilise” the policemen on their request. He added, “I’ve not
seen this man since then. I went to his house but there was nobody
there. The last time I called him, he threatened to deal with me if I
called him again. The police said I should call them anytime I lay my
hands on him.”
According to the documents Lucky made
available to Saturday PUNCH, Obeye had written several undertakings to
pay back the money but he had yet to do so. The letter written by
Lucky’s lawyer showed that the case had been properly documented with
the Area ‘A’ Command Headquarters at Lion Building and the Criminal
Investigation and Intelligence Department at Yaba.
At the moment, Lucky’s hope of being
employed with the NIS has since taken a nosedive for the worst, but not
without taking his well being along. “I’m sure there are other people
whom he has duped, but my worry is that he might soon retire because he
is an old man, and if he does, how do I get the remaining N475,000
back,” he said.
When our correspondent called Obeye’s
three phone numbers, none was available, and a visit to his office at
Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, did not produce any result as he was nowhere to be
found. Some officers who confided in our correspondent said nobody knew
where he was. They added that there had been series of cases against
him but nobody could find him.
“I can tell you that nobody knows where
he is and I don’t think he is still with us. He has some questions to
answer with us too, but we can’t find him,” one of them said.
The Spokesperson for Lagos State Police
Command, Joe Offor, had yet to respond to an enquiry by our
correspondent while that of Immigration was not available as of press
time.
The amazing news, however, is that Obeye is still in the service of the Nigeria Immigration Service but currently at large.
Source: Punch
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