The suspended Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Delta State on Morals and Diaspora, Ambassador (Dr) Favour Obakoro, has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC) to join a Turkish firm involved in the provision of business services to Nigerians to unravel the bid by a company based in Abuja to scam the firm and some people.
Thanking God for the role of the Turkish company, ERN, in exonerating her in the scam where she was falsely roped in, Obakoro said the Police and EFFC should launch a thorough investigation to determine the role played by the organisations involved in the business transaction so the guilty party is established and sanctioned.
expressed gratitude to God for His intervention on her behalf which exonerated her of the lies, and evil conspiracy plan of scammers.
Addressing the press in her office in Asaba, Dr. Obakoro told of her harrowing experience she had to go through in the hands of the police and scammers that has led to a misplaced aggression against in which she was called all sorts of negative names, a thief who used her position and office in government to scam people.
She said that the story that trended on the social media about her alleged scamming people of N500 million is all a lie. “Whatever story out there about me is 100 percent lie false. Nobody paid me for visa using government office like it was alleged that I used government office to scam people of N100 million,” Dr Obakoro said.
Fielding reporters’ questions on the point that the Police officers involved in the investigation may have been compromised against her in the whole saga, Dr. Obakoro is calling on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun to look into the matter of her being accused wrongly and subjected to very inhuman and degrading treatment by the Police from the Special Investigation Unit (SIU).
Giving details of the transaction, she said ERNpertners, the Turkish firm, had used its Nigerian agents, Gateway International Limited and El Chair, to deal with the Nigerians seeking their services.
She is also asking the IGP and the INTERPOL to undertake proper investigation into the matter for which the wrong accusation has tarnished her reputation and the good name that she had dutifully built over the years. “I am calling on the IGP to instigate an independent investigation into this matter. I am also calling on the EFCC to come in because this is a financial matter. They should investigate everybody connected with this matter including me. They should investigate the activities of David Kelvin Udoma of Gateway International and Victor Odewale”.
She is also asking the IGP to look into why CSP Taiwo Oyewale of the SIU suddenly turned against her soon after the IPO handed her a written note on Gateway International. “From that point she started bullying me and telling me to pay for what I did not bid for after refusing to arraign me in court even after detaining me for 18 days”, Obakoro said.
“I am appealing to the Inspector General of Police to look into this matter of my being accused wrongly; I’m being bullied and my life is being threatened. You need to read the kind of words used against me on the social media,” she said.
She also challenged the self styled activists VeryDarkMan, saying: “I challenge VeryDarkMan to identify the persons he alleged that I scammed.”
She dismissed insinuations of using her office as SSA to the Governor of Delta State to scam people as the wicked figment of the imagination of her detractors as the business transaction was undertaken before her appointment as aide to the governor of Delta State, adding that allegation is an insult to her person because “I am a person of integrity who guards jealously her good name and prefers it to any other.”
Dr. Obakoro said that just in the midst of the wicked schemes against her and the mindless way the investigating Police officers treated her, putting her in their custody first for over three weeks and denying her access to visitors, to calling her unprintable names, including coming to Asaba to conduct a search in her rented two-bedroom apartment for which the Police in their report said nothing incriminating was found against her, the ERNpertners Company in Turkey reached out to her.
She said: “God so kind, in the midst of all this, the company in Turkey ERNpertners reached out to me. They said somebody sent them a message and ‘we have seen what’s happening on the social media. We are sorry.’
“Then I said at this point, you can’t talk to me, you have to speak with my lawyer. My lawyer asked them technical questions. In fact, I never knew that these same boys, Kelvin David Udoma of Gateway, and Victor Odewale were involved in dubious activities. ERNpertners did not only send documents to clear me and also proved how those boys were defrauding Nigerians. They sent the same documents to the IGP, to the Turkish Embassy in Nigeria, the Nigerian Embassy in Turkey, the INTERPOL and the SIU. They now copied me. That’s how I got a copy of the document.”
The document made available to the press showed clearly that Dr. Obakoro and her companies are not in any way connected with Gateway International owned by David Kelvin Udoma and El Chairs Travels owned by Victor Odewale.
Clarifying and exonerating Vida Modelo Multi Media Company, ERN stated: “We want to emphasize that there’s NO business partnership or organic relationship between ERNpertners and Vida Modelo Multi Media Company.
“Vida Modelo offered it’s USDT transaction services for a commission, and their commission rates were clearly stated beforehand”, the document stated.
The ERNpertners document showed that Gateway International did not fulfill its own part of the agreement entered into with ERNpertners. “The issue according to ERNpertners, is that they had an agreement of $850 per client brought by Gateway for every business transaction. The company in Nigeria, Gateway, agreed. The agreement is that it’s after Gateway has fulfilled the terms of the business by paying the total amount of $850 that ERNpertners will do its own part.
“Clients who needed an alternative payment method due to bank transfer restrictions were informed of Vida Modelo as an option.
“At no point did Vida Modelo:
* Sell our services
* Profit from our service packages
* Have authorization to act as our agent.
“Moreover, neither ERNpertners nor Vida Modelo has ever received any payments for visa related services.
“The only authorized agents selling our services were:
* Gateway International
* El Chairs Travels
*Legal Actions and Fraud Allegations*
The document further stated that: “Through our Instagram account, several Nigerian nationals reported that they had paid $3,500 USD for our services but we did not receive them
“Upon legal investigation, it was confirmed that these payments were actually collected by Gateway International.
The key findings from investigations: show that:
* Gateway International charged clients up to $3,500 USD per package.
* However, they only transferred $450 USD to ERNpertners as an initial deposit.
* Clients were misled into believing they were paying for Visa Services (ERNpertners does not offer visa services).
”
*Social media Spam Attack*
“Once we started communicating directly with these affected clients and clarifying the facts, Gateway’s owner, Mr. David, became unconscionable with the truth being exposed.
“Shortly thereafter, anonymous users began spamming our social media accounts, leading to the suspension of our Instagram account.
*Request for Legal Investigation*
In the email to the Police and Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign, ERN sought the following:
“We request a formal investigation into the the following:
1. The total amounts collected by Gateway International from Nigerian clients
2. Whether clients were falsely promised visas in exchange for payments
3. A verification of refunds and comparison with the actual amounts sent to ERNpertners
“To assist with the investigation, we will provide:
* Social media links of Gateway International & El Chairs
* Names and passport details of affected Nigerian citizens,” ERNpertners stated.
*