By Akpabio Aniema
34 years old Anthony Ezechukwu has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC for allegedly using names of some prominent Nigerians, political figures and spouses of others to dupe unsuspecting members of the public of their money. The anti-graft agency said, Ezechukwu, a graduate of the Lagos State University, LASU, purportedly duplicate the face book accounts of the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the economy, Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, wife of Lagos State Governor, Abimbola Fashola, wife of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Aisha Bala Mohammed and the Director of the Abuja Geographical Information Systems, Jamilah Tangaza.
According to EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement, the suspect used the accounts to request for money. He added that the scam has fetched him (Ezechukwu) thousands of naira. Uwujaren, said ‘‘In each of the cases, he invented clever enticement to lure his victims.’’ ‘‘Once he succeeded in opening a face book account with a false identity of Dame Fashola, he began sending out messages, and soon his account was floored with friend request. He exploited the agitation by the gullible face book crowd that wanted to be friends with the first lady by directing them to meet with her ‘Personal Assistant’ who in turn required of them various sums of money in order to connect them with influential people in the corridors of power and the society.’’
‘‘Also in the face book account he opened using the name and photograph of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Ezechukwu claimed he had job offers and directed interested job seekers to her ‘Schedule Officer’, who in turn asked them to make payments into a designated bank account.’’
EFCC spokesman said that Ezechukwu’s exploit was discovered after he duplicated the face book account of Jamilah Tangaza. He explained, Ezechukwu continued in his exploitation of the office of the influential AGIS boss to have his share of the Abuja property sector. His enticement came in the form of a message which reads ‘‘In my certified, endorsed and approved capacity as the director general of Abuja Geographical Information Systems, officially appointed by the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed and his administration on presidency acceptance and approvals (sic) to take control of all lands and houses sales (sic) in the federal capital territory, Abuja. I now use this medium to advise the general public; those who wish to buy land and house in FCT, Abuja to channel all their inquiries, consultations and payment to me.’’
Uwujaren said ‘‘That despite the inadequately constructed message, some desperate people who wants to own land and houses in the FCT fell for it and began sending money into the bank account provided by the suspect on face book. He said the face book account he opened in the name of the FCT Minister, Aisha Mohammed, also turned out to be very worthwhile for him. In a post on the account, he claimed that the FCT had soft loan worth N10million for disbursement to individuals but offered forms to interested persons at the rate of N100, 000 to be paid to a designated new generation bank.’’ It was learnt that Tangaza later got to know of the fraud going on in his name and made a complaint to EFCC. The EFCC spokesman said, following the complaint by Tangaza, the operatives of the agency swung into action and were able to arrest Ezechukwu, who is now in their custody and assisting the officials with investigation into the matter. He will be charge to court as soon as the investigation is concluded.
Filed under: Aniema Akpabio, News Tagged: LASU Graduate arrested by Efcc for cloning Iwuala's facebook account 
