A 400-Level student of History and International Relations in a private university in Osun State, Adubi, who was arrested by men of Oyo State police command for allegedly impersonating Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, wife of Oyo State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, on Facebook, has said the heavy burden of paying his school fees forced him into the crime.
Fielding questions from newsmen after he was paraded by the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Mr. Leye Oyebade, at Eleyele in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, the suspect explained that the sudden death of his father, who was a laboratory scientist, last year, made life difficult for him on campus.
Adubi, according to the police boss, was arrested on November 25, 2015, for allegedly opening a fake Facebook account purportedly belonging to Mrs. Ajimobi, adding that the suspect had the intention to defraud innocent and unsuspecting members of the public on the wall and timeline of the fake Facebook account by requesting them to pay certain amount into his bank account.
“The suspect lied to many people, informing them of the non-existent Women Empowerment Programme and Car Loan Scheme of the First Lady. The suspect confessed to the crime,” Oyebade said.
Adubi confessed that he opened a new Facebook account in the name of Mrs Ajimobi, searched for her pictures on Google and uploaded them later on the account. According to him, he posted on the wall and timeline of the account, two, schemes – Women Empowerment Programme and Car Loan Scheme.
He stated that four persons contacted him on the scheme, but they said that they had not paid any money into his bank account.
Speaking further, he said:
“Initially, I contacted a woman and intimated her about a woman empowerment programme going on in Oyo State and she promised to get back to me. She was the only one I contacted concerning the empowerment programme.
“After that, I made it public on the timeline that there is a car loan scheme going on as a way through which the governor and his wife intended to compensate the people of Oyo State for their loyalty and faithfulness towards his administration. So, interested people contacted me.
“A woman contacted me first. She asked about the details of what it would take to get the car. I told her that the kind of car she wants would determine how much she would pay as deposit. She asked for NISSAN Micra vehicle and I told her it would cost N300,000. But she would make N100,000 as deposit. So, she said she would get back to me, but she never did. Another person contacted me for NISSAN Micra vehicle and he also promised to get back to me and up till now, he did not.
“Then, another man contacted me as well for 2003 model of Toyota Camry. I told him the 2003 model was not available, but informed him that it was the 2006 model that was available and I asked him to deposit 300,000. He promised to get back to me as well. From that moment till now, I have not received a dime from him as well.”
Curiously, the suspect said he would have loved to have the opportunity to talk one-on-one with Mrs. Florence Ajimobi. That desire appears to be a pipedream as it is uncertain the Oyo First Lady would be willing to meet him.
“I believe I should get a pardon because, I have not received a dime from anybody. If I am actually given the opportunity to have a heart-to-heart talk with the First Lady, I can plead with her as a son to assist me so that I can go back to school and get a first degree. Nobody around me, who knows me very well, would allow my level of intelligence to waste away,” he said.
The suspect appealed to well-meaning Nigerians to give him a chance to go back to school, adding: “I lost my father last year and the financial burden has been too much for me to pay my school fees. So, that was what led me into it. Nobody taught me how to do it. In this computer age, every youth has access to the Internet; provided you are computer literate, there are so many things you will be able to do by yourself without being taught.”
The suspect also explained that the portion of his father’s gratuity that got to him was used to settle the debt he incurred while going to school. He lamented that the financial capacity of his mother could not see him through the school, saying:
“I still have a mother, but it is different when the responsibility of two parents become that of one person.”
Sunday Sun
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