The Niger State Police Command has apprehended Elijah Olawale, 40, from Kwara State, and Timothy Oyewole, 25, of Ede in Osun State, for allegedly duping one Mr George Elada of the National Examination Council’s headquarters, Minna, and other job seekers of the sum of N1.5m.

It was learnt that the suspects deceived their desperate victims with claims that they could get them jobs at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Kaduna.

The victims were said to have given Olawale and Oyewole the sum of N1.5m to facilitate their employment by the NNPC.

The police said Oyewole posed as the Head of Department, Human Resources, NNPC, Kaduna and promised to offer the victims appointments in the corporation.

Northern City News gathered that that the two-man gang had been duping unsuspected persons in the state on the pretence that they would help them secure employment.

Olawale, who claimed to be a self-employed events manager, told our correspondent that he was not making enough money to cater for his family’s needs hence his resort to the job scam.

He stated, “The proceeds from my business were not sufficient to cater for my family responsibility, that was why l am into fraud.”

“I got most of my victims through Facebook and from the moment I started chatting with them, they started paying in instalments into my account.”

Oyewole, a Geology graduate, added that he was frustrated by lack of employment, noting that he was driven into crime by frustration.

“I cannot remember how this idea of defrauding people came to me. There are no jobs in the country; graduates are roaming the streets without jobs; it is frustration that led me to fraud, honestly speaking,” he stated.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Niger State Command, Muhammad Abubakar, said the suspects confessed to the crime, adding that they would soon be arraigned in court.

Abubakar advised members of the public to refrain from paying money for employment. – Punch

– Nov. 5, 2018 @ 8:25 GMT |