N3m extortion: How Shell staff, police connived by Travel Agent - ITREALMS

WeekendZone@ITREALMS: 

Dateline September 30, 2019:

September 30, 2019 seemed like a normal business day for Dayo Ayoade, Managing Director of Travel Deals Limited, Lagos, until he discovered that Guaranty Trust Bank Plc had placed a lien on his bank account. On approaching the bank, he was arrested and detained at the Area F Police Station, Lagos State without any charge for a period of five days, placed in the cell amongst hardened criminals and handcuffed to the hospital bed like a common criminal and later transferred to Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The Shell connection:

Enquiries from his family about his whereabouts revealed that a certain Joseph Ezekwugo, Technology Manager at Shell Petroleum, Port Harcourt, ordered his arrest, alleging that he was duped by Ayoade and should be remanded in police custody until he pays the sum of N3.4 million.

Ayoade said: “The whole drama started on July 22, 2019 when one Ayanniyi Babatunde Daniel of Range Travels came to my office to make enquiries about my discount tables for sub agents and expressed his willingness to do business with me. 

He told me to do travel reservations for Mr. Joseph Ezekwugo from Lagos to Winnipeg on Lufthansa, Ottawa to Winnipeg for his son on West Jet, Lagos to London return for Jenmi Nikky Omolola on British Airways and Oke Oluwale Abayomi on Ethiopian Airline. The reservations were made and immediately forwarded to Mr. Ayanniyi Babatunde via WhatsApp. I gave him my GTBank account number before he left the office to enable him make payment once his client gives his approval.

The GTBank link:

“Later that evening, an unregistered number called me and introduced himself as Joseph Ezekwugo from Port Harcourt and wanted to know if he’s speaking with the MD of Travel Deals Limited, I answered in affirmation and he told me his agent (Ayaniyi Babatunde) gave him my number and account. I called Ayaniyi Babatunde and notified him of the call from Mr. Ezekwugo Joseph and he confirmed to me that he gave him my details.

Shortly after that I got an alert of Seven Hundred Thousand Naira (700,000.00) from Mr. Ezekwugo Joseph. I immediately called the two of them to notify them of the payment and Mr. Ayanniyi told me that more payment will still be made as he (Mr. Ezekwugo) will be traveling with members of his family.

“The following day, on July 23rd, 2019 I received another payment of Five Hundred and Fifty Seven Thousand Two Hundred Naira (N557,200.00). I again notified Mr. Ezekwugo via text message and called Mr. Ayanniyi to let me know the tickets to be issued as I will not be responsible for any increase in fares and he told me he will liaise with his client get back to me and even confirmed that more payment will still be made.

Now, the deal:

“About a week after, Mr. Ayanniyi came to my office and asked me to issue ticket as follows:

“(1) British Airways ticket to London for Jenmi Nikky Omolola at a cost of Seven Hundred and Fifty Five Thousand, Five Hundred and Ninety Eight Naira (N755,598.00).

“(2) On August 19th, 2019, he was in my office to issue another Ethiopian Airline ticket for Vitalla Golla at a cost Three Hundred and Fifty Three Thousand Six Hundred and Two Naira (N353,602.00).

“Same day, he asked me to issue another ticket for a local flight to Mr. Ezekwugo from Port Harcourt to Lagos but I told him we don’t do local tickets because of the stress involved. 

He then requested that I send him the balance of One Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira (120,000.00) after deducting the Twenty Thousand Naira (20,000.00) I borrowed him to enable him source for Mr. Ezekwugo's local flight ticket.

Hello from Inspector Dominic:

“On September 26th, 2019 an unregistered number called me and introduced himself as Inspector Dominic from Port Harcourt. He asked if I know Mr. Joseph Ezekwugo and why I issued him a fake ticket. I told Inspector Dominic that though I don’t know Mr. Joseph Ezekwugo in person but we spoke with twice on phone and I didn’t issue any ticket to him. 

I further told the Inspector that the two tickets I issued from the payment Mr. Ezekwugo gave me were in favor of Jenmi Nikky Omolola and Vitalla Golla which were on instruction Mr. Ayanniyi Babatunde, his agent and that the balance of his money has since been transferred Mr. Ayanniyi Babatunde. 

Inspector Dominic later made a snapshot of the purported fake tickets to me and I told him that what he sent to me did not originate from me as they did not even resemble my company’s ticket format.

“Shortly after, I called Mr. Joseph Ezekwugo to intimate him of what Inspector Dominic told me but was surprised when he affirmed it. I questioned why he didn’t notify me when he realized the ticket given to him by his agent were fake, he gave no answer to that and further said my company has been used to defraud him by his agent.

Ayanniyi Babatude eloped:

“All attempts to get in touch with Mr. Ayanniyi Babatunde who was the one that came to my office to do all the negotiations proved abortive as he initially refused to pick calls and when he eventually picked, he was so evasive as he kept giving excuses of not been around.

“On September 30th, 2019, I realized my GTBank account was frozen and I had to go to GTbank to enquire why there is a restriction on my account, to my surprise, the bank’s Chief Security Officer (CSO) showed me some documents from the Inspector General’s office effecting my arrest on sight. I followed him to the Police Station hoping that the issue will soon be resolved since I knew I had not committed any fraud.

Handcuffed to the bed:

“We met the DPO who took us to the Area Commander and after so much going back and forth, I was detained and locked up in the cell. Due to my ill health, I was moved from the cell to stay behind the counter overnight. My health got worse the following day and was taken to the hospital (Cottage) on the orders of the DPO and was handcuffed to the bed. I was treated for my Asthma ailment and in the cause of the treatment, it was discovered I had developed high blood pressure.

“I was moved to police station again on Thursday morning where I spent the day and night behind the counter before Inspector Dominic finalized his paper work and we proceeded on the trip to Port Harcourt. We were to move by road but had to buy flight tickets for the two police officers that came from Port Harcourt namely Inspector Igwe Dominic and Sargent Oludare Olamide.

How I landed in PH:

“We got to Port Harcourt same Friday, I wrote my statement with the police and later met one Mr. Chukwukaelo Ogadinma who said he is Mr. Joseph’s Personal Assistant. Mr. Ogadinma insisted that I must pay Three Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N3,500,000.00) before I can be granted bail. It was later discovered that Mr. Chukwukaelo Ogadinma is a staff of Shell and was employed by Mr. Joseph Ezekwugo to further confuse and make believe the allegation against me. 

To further put fear and intimidation in me as well as extort money, Mr. Ogadinma boasted of how much money he had paid the police to effect my arrest and that the said amount must be paid before my release. All pleas to release me fell on deaf ears.

“Not even my proposal to be responsible for the only Two Million Two Hundred Thousand Naira (2,200,000.00) which was the cost of the fresh ticket Mr. Joseph claimed he bought since he already had the plan to travel and to spend One Million Two hundred and Fifty Seven Thousand Two Hundred (N1,257,200.00) yielded any positive result as his “PA” insisted I have to pay Three Million Naira N(3,000,000.00) final payment or else I should remain in police custody. 

Already I was locked up in the cell with criminals and couldn’t imagine spending another night there.

N3m or you remain detained:

“When all pleas fell on his deaf ears, a friend of mine, Jide Akinuli transferred Three Million Naira (3,000,000.00) to Mr. Chukwukaele Ogadinma and upon receipt of the payment, which he confirmed via online banking, he asked the Police to release me.

“After all the necessary paper work, I was released on bail later that Friday night.”

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Leveraging agent networks for better financial, social inclusion - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Leveraging agent networks for better financial, economic and social inclusion is gaining momentum in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), reports ITREALMS.

The level of financial inclusion DRC, ITREALMS gathered, stands at 26 per cent. This presents a great opportunity for agent networks for digital financial services in the country to accelerate the access of low and middle-income populations to quality financial services.

Despite the presence of several digital financial service providers in the market, both the access and use of these services remains weak. This makes it all the more critical to improve the management of agent networks. According to the World Bank statistics, mobile money accounts have increased from 9.2% in 2014 to 16.1% in 2017 (https://bit.ly/2v04gWJ).

In the DRC, the use of informal financial services remains strongly anchored among the population. In this context, a careful selection of agents appears to be a good alternative at a lower cost to the provision of financial services. Well-trained, they will be the ideal channels for financial inclusion to become a reality.

The ELAN DRC program and the Fund for Financial Inclusion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FPM) commissioned MSC to conduct a short-term study on the internal opportunities and constraints <in managing the agent networks established and managed by digital financial service providers in the DRC. MSC conducted this six-month qualitative study from mid-May to late-November 2018. It focused on the five provinces of Kinshasa, Kongo Central, Kasai, Katanga, and Kivu, and involved 19 suppliers and 50 agents.

This study had two main objectives: (1) To understand the internal factors in the management of DRC agent networks that promote or slow the success of DRC agents, and (2) to provide guidance on how operational management of agent networks can improve. The study makes a clear case for increasing financial inclusion through agents—but for that, a long-term investment is essential.

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ATCON says Glo is agent of transformation - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Globacom has been described as an agent of transformation by the leadership of the Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), for its efforts on revolutions in the Nigerian telecoms sector, reports ITRealms.

Globacom and its chairman, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr. were given unique prominence in a list of 100 heroes of Nigeria’s telecom in a new publication by the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON).

The book was formally unveiled in Lagos on Friday at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki.

The launch of the publication which was chaired by Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, former Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), also has in attendance, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu, Minister of Communications, who was the Special Guest of Honour.

The publication noted that Globacom had pioneered a series of innovations that have helped to transform the nation’s telecommunications sector extensively, adding that one of the most impactful feats performed by Globacom was the introduction of per second billing (PSB) in Nigeria at inception.

PSB made it possible for Nigerians to get unprecedented value for money by paying only for the exact time spent on calls.

It also added that Globacom facilitated telephone penetration nationwide through hundred percent reduction of GSM SIM price from N20,000 to N200 and crashing of call tariff from N50 to 5kobo.

In addition, the publication also listed several products pioneered by Globacom. They included Blackberry, vehicle tracking, mobile internet, mobile banking, multimedia messaging service (MMS), in-flight roaming services, voice SMS, Magic Plus and Text2email.

Also noted was Globacom‘s Glo 1,the first wholly-owned submarine cable, a high capacity  optic fibre cable which brings direct connectivity between West Africa, the UK and the rest of the world. The 9,800 km-long cable which provides excess bandwidth to all the cities connected to it ensures the availability of bandwidth to enterprise customers in West Africa and beyond.

In continuation of Globacom’s giant strides in the nation’s telecoms industry, it recently laid foundation of Glo 2 sub marine cable, another landmark which on completion will be the first submarine cable in Nigeria to terminate outside Lagos, thus providing enough bandwidth to communities in the southern part of the country, especially the oil platforms.

Nenye Egbune/GEE

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