A 39-year-old welder, Taiwo Lawal Egbebi, who
decided to seek short cut to quick wealth bowed
his head in shame on Thursday, June 23, at the
premises of the headquarters of the Oyo State
Police Command, as his victims hollered at him,
screaming and clapping: “Oju ole re, ole! (Behold
the face of a thief and a fraudster)!”
But before they had the opportunity of shaming him
publicly, Egbebi had caused untold silent pains to
each of his victims by sending them to prisons in
Nigeria and abroad over crimes they did not
commit.
Crime Reports’ investigation revealed that the
suspect’s stock-in-trade was to deceive innocent
victims into making them believe he was a
businessman, after which he would offer them the
job of a sales girl. At other times, he would tell
those in business that he could take them to
countries where they could get goods at cheaper
prices. He would thereafter take them on such
business trips and swindle bureau-de-change
operators and merchants, leaving his innocent ‘sales
girl’ or ‘business partners’ to face the music of the
crime committed by him.
The Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Leye
Oyebade, who spoke with Crime Reports on the
arrest of the suspect, said Egbebi usually introduced
himself to people as Alhaji Kazeem Ade-Alaso and
Ade-Gold, making them to believe he was into the
sale of clothing materials and gold.
One of the victims, Ajani Adunola, who spoke with
Crime Reports, said: “The suspect cajoled me and
another lady, Ismail Saidat, to follow him for
business in Lome, Republic of Togo, in November
28, 2012, saying goods were cheaper there. In the
guise of changing naira to CFA, he stole from the
money given to him by the bureau de change
operator we went to and disappeared, leaving us
behind.
“The money he stole was seven million CFA which
is N2.1million. Because of this, we were arrested
and were in prison for 17 months. We were
sentenced to 20 years imprisonment but after we
paid the money, we were released.”
On how she came across Egbebi, the lady said she
and Saidat were in the same vehicle with him on
their way to Cotonou in a commercial bus. “I was
discussing on phone with a customer who wanted
me to buy some kegs of vegetable oil for her. After
finishing the call, the suspect told me that he was a
vegetable oil merchant in Lome.
“That was how I fell into his trap. He told me that
vegetable oil was cheaper in Lome, saying I should
go with him. He asked for the money for the
business and I told him that I had already changed
the currency to CFA. He approached some bureau
de change operators in Togo and told them that he
had dollars, displaying a bag. After collecting the
cash, he left his bag and went out. When he did not
return, the bag was searched and we discovered he
stuffed it with vegetables and rags.”
Lending her voice to her friend’s narrative, Saidat
said: “My friend and I were on our way to Cotonou
to buy vegetable oil, shoes and bags for sale, but
the suspect convinced us to follow him to Togo.
Along Cotonou and Togo highway, police stopped
us and he cajoled me into borrowing him some
money, saying he had only dollars. After the police
released us, he took us to Lakoji area and people
told us that it was Ghana border with Togo.
“The suspect approached a Hausa man for CFA.
When the man went to bring the money in a Ghana-
must-go bag, I asked the suspect to bring out his
dollars but he warned me that we needed to be
careful, as the Hausa people were wicked and could
disappear with the dollars. He had earlier collected
N42,000 from us.
“As we were counting the money, he smartly
removed seven million CFA, after which he said he
wanted to charge our phones for us. That was the
last we saw of him. The Hausa man said the
money he brought was no longer complete. We
searched for the suspect but he had already
disappeared with our phones and money.
“We were confused: They didn’t understand Yoruba
or English and we could not speak French. It was a
Yoruba man who was nearby that told the Hausas
not to beat us, as he could understand what we
were saying.
“Police were invited and we were taken to police
station. After the third day, we were taken straight to
the prison. We spent 17 months in the prison, hired
a lawyer and paid back the money the suspect
stole before we were released. Our families had to
sell properties to get us out because we were given
20 years imprisonment.”
Crime Reports also gathered that Egbebi was once
arrested at State Criminal Investigation Department,
Iyaganku, but was released on bail when he was
down with tuberculosis.
Another victim, Yusuf Mujidat (22), also narrated her
ordeal thus: “A friend introduced the man to me
when he said he needed a sales girl. He said he
had shops at Gbagi, Agbeni and Ogunpa. I said I
would do the job and he promised to pay N15,000
monthly, N200 daily transport allowance and N250
travelling allowance.
“He showed me a shop at Agbeni but because it
was a Thursday, he said the shop would not be
opened until 10a.m. He took me to Asaba in Delta
State on April 7, 2013. He bought gold worth
N1,046,400 and disappeared on the pretence that
he wanted to buy a drink, leaving me behind.
“I spent seven days in the police station in
handcuffs, and spent one month and three days in
prison. My parents spent a lot of money to get me
bailed. We paid for surety in the sum of N300,000,
a lawyer collected N170,000 as charges, and I still
paid back the gold money.”
Staring straight as he spoke with Crime Reports,
Egbebi confessed: “it is true that I defrauded people
and also put my victims in trouble. I learnt welding
as a vocation but there was no one to help me set
up the business through the purchase of necessary
equipment. I started defrauding people in 2012 to
make some money but stopped in 2014. I picked it
up again in 2015 when survival became difficult.
“What I usually did was to tell people that I needed
a sales girl. I would go to a shop, pick my phone
and start talking to no one that I needed a sales
girl. Such people would recommend known persons
to me and they were the ones I was using.
“Typically, on her first day of resumption, I would
ask the sales girl to follow me to other parts of
Nigeria to buy goods. Sometimes, I would stop at a
bureau de change to change non-existing dollars to
naira. In the process of counting the money, I would
remove some and leave the sales girl to count the
rest, saying that I wanted to buy a drink or ease
myself. I would disappear with the money that way.
Sometimes, it was goods such as gold jewellery.
The sales girl would be held instead of me.”
Egbebi said he was arrested in 2014 but was
released due to ill health. One of the vehicles he
brought from the dubious business transactions was
however impounded and is still at the Iyaganku
Division.
When asked whether he was never pricked by his
conscience, the suspect said he was, but since he
had no means of repaying what he had taken, he
later ignored victims’ families’ calls. He said he
built a house and bought two vehicles, one of which
he had sold. He said the total money he collected
was about N4 million, though the Commissioner of
Police put the money at over N5 million.
Other victims are Arije Olabisi who was taken to
Kano State; Hamzat Abiodun whom the suspect
took to Owerri in Imo State; and Iyabo Owolabi who
was taken to Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, and remanded
in prison for three weeks.
The Commissioner of Police said that the suspect
would be arraigned in court after the conclusion of
investigations, while he urged other victims to come
forward for more evidences to be taken against
him.
http://tribuneonlineng.com/confession-of-
international-fraudster- •how-i-sent-my-victims-to-prison-in-togo
Pics: The suspect. INSET: Some of Taiwo Egbebi’s
victims. From left: Ajani Adunola, Ismail Saidat,
Yusuf Mujidat and Iyabo Owolabi
victims. From left: Ajani Adunola, Ismail Saidat,
Yusuf Mujidat and Iyabo Owolabi
