The 62 year old alleged fake colonel was said to have defrauded several victims before he was arrested following a tip-off. The suspect has been parading himself as an Army colonel currently attached to the 2nd Mechanized Division Nigeria Army, Adekunle Fajuyi Cantonment Ibadan.
Crimewatch gathered that the suspect was arrested on April 13, 2012 by the military personnel and he was reported to have duped about 24 people of N2million purportedly to facilitate their recruitment. The General Officer Commanding(GOC)2nd Division , Nigerian Army, Major General Muhammed Abubakar said that the suspect was a dismissed corporal but he was parading himself as Colonel and whenever he came to the headquarter he was usually given compliment.
Major General Abubakar said he gathered that he was dismissed as corporal when he sold diesel at ECR Ede Osun State and that he has been dismissed since 1981. He said the suspect had told the unsuspecting parents of the victims that were found with him, eight females and 16 males with ages range between 17 and 29 years, that he would train their wards in the Nigerian Army Intelligence College in Lagos.
“The suspect had planned to use our sport ground to train them without any application to the authority. The Army has a procedure on how to recruit and we normally publicise it in the media”, the GOC said. Abubakar added that the suspect had printed fake admission letters, T-shirts, and track suits and sold them to the victims with 2 Division Mascot (Tiger) and the Nigerian Army Intelligence Corps (NAIC) Logo . “During the preliminary investigation none of my officers was involved in the conspiracy and everything the suspect did was illegal”, the GOC 2 said.
In a chat with Crimewatch, the suspect confessed that he was dismissed from the Nigerian Army as Corporal when he stole diesel at ECR, Ede in Osun State.
“I started this fake recruitment right from Abeokuta in Ogun state and I have recruited from Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and some of the victims sleep in my house,” he said. He explained that he bought some printing press through which he said he printed fake admission letters, T-shirts and track suits which were bought at Idumota in Lagos. “I started recruiting them and collecting money from them with a promise to train them in Lagos before we will move them to Abuja. “I started collecting N15,000 for form from each of them.
I deceived them that they will start training at the 2 Division of the Nigerian Army Sports ground. We started to jog and I borrowed some money from the families of the victims”, he said. One of the victims, Folake Alase, a 200 Level student of Osun State University explained her experience to our reporter: “I didn’t show interest in joining the Army but my parents were desperate that I should join the Army.
My father paid certain money and borrowed him the sum of N150,000. I was shocked when we heard that he was a fake colonel and he had duped us.” Another victim, Niyi Alomogun, 29 years old and an Accountancy graduate from the Ogun State University said that Johnson collected over N50,000 from him and that they used his house in Abeokuta as camp. ”He promised that after the training he will take us to Abuja and from there to overseas country.It was when information got to us that he has been arrested by the Army personnel that some of us from Abeokuta stormed the Division 2 in Ibadan
It was gathered that most of the parents of the victims stormed the Ibadan cantonment of the Nigerian Army. The GOC has however transferred the arrested fake Colonel to the state police Command for proper investigation. Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Tambari Mohammed said that the suspect has been transferred to the police and that a proper investigation into the matter has commenced. CP Mohammed warned parents to take it easy whenever they are looking for jobs for their children so that they will not fall into the hands of dupe.
He further warned that whenever any of the nation security agency is recruiting, it is usually done in the open and that awareness are created through the media. He said when the police command concluded its investigation the suspect will be charged to court.
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