His explanation became necessary in view of the fact that the government had promised earlier in the year that it would inaugurate the centre which was built in memory of the late lawyer at a cost of about N500m to commemorate the first anniversary of his death.

However, Akerele said the centre was now 90 per cent ready and that all infrastructure and equipment needed had been procured and were being installed.

He said,”The Fawehinmi Diagnostic Centre is 30 per cent ready. The infrastructure is completely ready. We are only installing the equipment and we don‘t want to rush it because we want to be sure that everything is test run before we open it officially.

”It is true that we had intended to inaugurate it to commemorate the first anniversary of his death on Saturday but it is even more important to us that we have been able to construct and equip it.

”This is to show how important Fawehinmi is to us, more so that he fought for the ordinary man. We ensured that a health centre that would benefit mankind was built in his memory.”

The commissioner said the state government was also planning to set up a foundation for the centre to support people who might not be able to afford the financial implication of the services that would be offered by the centre.

He said, ”The government is also going a step further to set up a foundation that would be able to help those who are not rich enough to access the services of that type of a diagnostic centre which is of a world class.”

Meanwhile, the Afenifere leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, has said no one in the country had been able to fill the vacuum left behind by Fawehinmi since he died last year.

Fasoranti, in an interview with our correspondent on Saturday at his residence in Akure, however prayed that God would send a replacement for the departed legal icon.

He said,”His (Fawehinmi)‘s type is not common. We have lost an illustrious son in Ondo State. To get someone like him is not easy but we pray that God will send a replacement.”

The octogenarian politician also lamented that the activities of the human rights group in the country had dwindled in the last one year.

He said,”The activities of the human rights group in the country have not been on the high pitch since his death but we are praying that God will raise people like him who will defend the defenseless with their selfless activities.”
by Sunday Aborisade

The Ondo State Commissioner for Health, Mr. Lawrence Adegbenro, has resigned his appointment.

According to a statement by the state’s Commissioner for Information, Ranti Akerele, Dr.Adegbenro in his resignation letter submitted at the weekend, thanked Governor Olusegun Mimiko for giving him an opportunity to serve Ondo State.

The statement added that the governor wished Dr. Adegbenro well and expressed the hope that he would continue to contribute his quota to the development of the state.
Source:  Adewale Giwa, NBF News

You recently celebrated your 50th birthday anniversary. It must have been quite an eventful journey for you …

It has really been an eventful journey for me. And I thank God for everything. I was born in Ile – Ife in 1960, the year Nigeria attained her independence. And I was named Joseph. If you look at 28 years of my life, which was spent in that neighborhood of lfe and Ondo state, I will say that God must have been preparing me for a mission. I graduated from the University of Ife in 1982 and Proceeded on national service, also in Ile – Ife, at the Oyo state College of Arts and science, where I thought Yoruba and literature in English.

Thereafter, I worked for the former deputy governor of ondo state, Chief Akin Omoboriowo. I will say that was my baptism of fire in politics. Through that network, I was able to meet a lot of policticians, some of whom are still very much around today. By the time I left Chief Omoboriowo, I started working for the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade sijuade. I was running Motel Royal in Ile Ife which was owned by him. There I also came in contact with a lot of people. Thereafter, I went back to the university for my masters in Literature-in-English. And by the time I was completing that programme in 1988, the thought of what to do began to cross my mind. Of course, my first love was teaching.

I wanted to teach and I applied, variously to some institutions, but at that time, there was an embargo on appointments and promotions by the then military government. I couldn’t get a job and I was getting very desperate. My father had died when I was only thirteen and I was left with an illiterate mother to look after me. So you can imagine how frustrating it was not being able to get a job after getting a masters degree. As fate will have it, when I was working at Motel Royal., I had met Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo, who was a great writer with The Guardian. My first article was taken from me in Ife by Onukaba to The Guardian in Lagos. It was published in The Africans Guardians’ Culture section. It was a story I wrote on the Olojo Festival. I was also writing on the opinion pages of The Guardian.

I remember the very first one. It was what I called the politics of language, which was in response to an article written by Odia Ofeimun about Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s decision to stop writing in English. That was how it all started until Kunle Ajibade and I co- authored an article which generated so much commotion in the media industry. I will say that was what catapulted me into fame in Lagos. At that time, I wanted to work at The Guardian but couldn’t get a job from Nduka Irabor then, Onukuba suggested I should meet Lewis Obi at the African Concord. As fate will have it again, the first day I visit African Concord, the first two people I met were Bayo Onanuga and Babafemi Ojudu. And of course we knew ourselves as writers and I said I wanted to see the editor, Lewis Obi. They told me to wait for him.

To cut a long story short I was given a job at African Concord. But I was somehow baffled when Obi asked me how much I wanted to earn. You can imagine a bush man, coming from Ife, being asked how much he wanted to be paid. I thought it was Ife, so I said I will like to earn N700 a month. That was how I became a Lagos boy at the age of 28. And within a few months, I was transferred to Weekend Concord which I accepted reluctantly. I didn’t know God was preparing me for a major task in show business and entertainment.

Why did you resign from Weekend Concord?

When I was at Weekend Concord, May Ellen Ezekiel came and invited me to edit Classique. I left Concord exactly two years after joining them. I couldn’t tell my chairman, who had become very close to me. You see, I am the kind of person that put passion into whatever he does. I was employed by African Concord, but I was writing for the features page of the National concord, Sunday concord and even the Yoruba newspaper, Isokan.

So it was very easy for my employer to know there was a guy who was working round the clock. But when I decided to leave, I couldn’t tell my chairman. Of course, when I told the managing director, Dr. Doyin Abiola, that I was leaving, the first thing she did was to ask me where I was going. I told her where I was going. And she was wondering what could have informed my decision to leave just two years after joining the organization.but you see, I love challenges. I love to travel the road less travelled. That was how I joined Classique and It opened a window of opportunities for me to meet the movers and shakers of our society. I continued my relationship with Chief MKO Abiola and he gave me some money, which was about 4000 pounds.

The story behind that is that it changed a lot of things for me. By the time I came back to Nigeria, I became completely transfigured. And it led to the way I had to leave my job. By time I came back, I told my boss that I wanted to prepare for my wedding. Of course, by the time I came back I was no longer editor: I was made managing editor and I didn’t like it. I resigned. And them, I went into public relations I was also selling bread till 1992, when Nduka Obaigbena came and asked me to help him set up a news publication. The paper’s initial name was leaders and company and I was to be the founding editor, so, I helped to recruit some of the key staff that started leaders and company.

A few months after that, Abiola joined politics and I left Leaders and Company, and followed him, while Nduka followed Bashir Tofa. From there, the June 12 crisis came. And again, I was right in the middle of it. And it led to my being detained at Alagbon under Babangida regime. I came out and continued my campaign. Then Abiola was arrested in 1994. Then, in 1995 I was to be picked up and my wife was tipped off. They were going to charge me for treason, and as one of the persons behind Radio Freedom which later became Radio Kudirat. I managed Nigeria to Cotonou, Togo and Ghana. And from Ghana I went to London, getting to London, I thought Abacha will relax, but he never did. The next thing I did was to think of what I was going to do to survive. And then, my cousin, Segun Fatoye, suggested that I publish a magazine. And that was how Ovation was born. And I can tell you tha we needed 140,000 pounds but we couldn’t even raise 20,000 pounds. But my uncle, Chief Ezekiel Fatoye, managed to give me 10,000 pounds and the rest is history today. So I have been used to growing something out of nothing.

A few days before your 50th birthday, you declared your plan to run for presidency. When did this idea of contesting creep in?

For me, my decision to contest the presidency is not a political ambition. I prefer to call it a political mission. Unknown to me, it has always been there. I have watched the political landscape in Nigeria and I have been an active participant in various ways, in my own little corner, either as an activist or media person. And without sounding immodest, I believe I am one of the people who have written the greatest number of articles about all issues affecting Nigeria. But I have come to a conclusion that writing articles have changed little or nothing about these lingering political problems in Nigeria.

So about two years ago, I got an invitation from some people in the United States of America. The group is called Nigeria reunion and it is the largest gathering of young Nigerians outside Nigeria. These are young, but very successful professionals. So I went to Baltimore to honour their invitation. They asked me to tell them what the biggest issue that affected Nigerian economy negatively was. Well, I told them the Niger Delta situation was very volatile, and since Nigeria runs an economy based on oil and nothing else and until we can resolve the south south, I don’t think the Nigerian economy can improve. Then they asked me which ethnic group was the most vocal in Nigeria. And I said it was the Yoruba.

Their early exposure to western education, the media and all had made it possible for them to control a lot of things. They are very vocal and they are not afraid to say it as it is. Then of the questions was which country I considered to be traditionally, very close to Nigeria among the foreign powers. And I said that it was Great Britain, our formal colonial masters. Whatever affects Nigeria will affect Great Britain. And then we have a large concentration of Nigerians in Britain. In fact the second home of Nigerians. Then the last question they asked me was the political need to win an election apart from money. And I said it was the media. At the rate the Obama thing was going at that time, the media had made up their mind that they were going to install Obama. So if you have the media, you have already covered about 50 percent of the journey.

Then, the money aspect will follow. Once the hype is right, people will be able follow the campaign. Then, they said they had been reading some articles I wrote about searching for good candidates in Nigeria. They said they were surprised that I could not recognize that I was one of the best candidates available in Nigeria. Before that day, people always told me that I was a politician because I had the network.

But I never I never considered myself as one. I was just an activist that was doing his own business. Then they started this bizarre analysis about how I possessed most of the criteria that they want in anybody aspiring for the presidency. So, they said what they wanted to find out from me is if I have the guts because the people I am going to fight have held power practically all their live. I thanked them for thinking that I am important in the scheme of things. I have been used to people who will put you down for who you are, people who thinking that you cannot do anything because you are a black man. And in Nigeria, for some funny reasons, may because journalists are some of poorest professionals around, people don’t have respect for us.

Since I declare my intention to run for the presidency, I have been getting all kinds of funny responses. Some people even asked if thought the presidency was showbiz. For God’s sake, how can you see me as a showbiz person when I write a very serious column every Saturday? I have to combine it with every other activity, with even travelling all over the place. Sometimes, at social functions, you see me typing away on my laptop.

On what platform do you intend to run?

I intend to run on the platform of the labour party am a product of labour. My father started in life as a labourer. He migrated from the old Mid-Western Region, from a place called Ihievbe to Ile-Ife. I don’t know when, but the story is that it must have been around 1944. He got married to my mother and I was born in labour. Most of the Ora, the Afemai people have always been in labour, most of the great labour people like Pa Imoudu and Adams Oshiomole are from that area. It is an ideological thing. Some people said that I might have decided to run for president because I want to be appointed as a minister. To me, that is an insult. By the grace of God, I am beyond all that. If I wanted to be a minister I am sure I would get something if I sat in Abuja for three months.

So it is an insult for anybody to say that I am looking for a job. Besides, I believe that people who get jobs in Nigeria, anyway, are people who are not employed and are not employable. So, for me, labour has always been my first choice. I have never belonged to a political party. I joined Labour party about a year ago, when I thought this was an idealogical thing. I want a platform that I can conviniently say is different. Everybody knows that Labour party has no money. If I am not in Labour tommorow or decide to go to another party it will never be PDP.

Nigeria is confronted by a series of problems. How do you intend to fix them?

Ths biggest problem confroning Nigeria is corruption. And nothing has been done or being done to corrcet it. Once you have a corrupt leader, you cannot fix anything. So the best thing is to have a leader who has never been a government contractor. As a jounalist, everybody knows that I run my business strictly professionally. I don’t get involved with people in government. When you talk about land allocation in Nigeria, you will never see me there. When Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was the governor of Lagos State, I was one of the closest persons to him. We were both on exile together and we shared many fond memories as well. But I only entered his office one when he was in office. And that day, Tokunbo Afikuyomi was going to see him and I didn’t want to wait in the car.

Another person I was close to was Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia state. I was the first person to write in 1996 that he was going to become governor. I used to call him Aba trader. For the eight years that he was governor, I only went to Umuaiha once and never visited him.That is me. And I didn’t know that God was preparing me for a mission, So that I will be in a situation, where I can talk boldly and confidently. So, I am not involved in all the rat race that people run in Nigeria. I have just been runing my business. I come from an academic backround in Ile-Ife. I wanted to be a teacher, but I came to Lagos and changed into something else. In fact, profesor kole omotosho say that one of tragedies that befell the academia was Dele momodu coming to Lagos to come and do showbiz.

For me, I have never left that academic lif totally. And that is why I am doing some of the things I am doing now. So, I always laugh when I hear of the issue of EFCC or ICPC. They cannot do anything because those who have appointed them will never allow them to function. If you want to fight curruption, it must be across board. You cannot be handpicking people. You must have a yardstick. And then, a leader must be able to come out and say that he is the one that is elacted, not is wife or family, for the first time, you are going to have presidnet who will be able to tell his wife to go and face her business. My wife is a chartered accountant. She has ACCA and a master’s degree. I am not going to allow her to waste all that to go and be chasing governors’ wives and be doing jamboree all over the place.

When john major was prime minister of British, his son was working in the supermarket. When Tony Blair was in government, his wife, a lawyer, was still going to court. I don’t know what is wrong with us in Nigeria. So, the fight against coruption must begin with the first family. Once the first family is corrupt, everything else will never work. What happens is that once the wife of the president is jobless, all manner of people will be patronising her for favours. When you are under pressure – somewhere along the line, you wiil cave in. Secoundly, one thing I have decided to do is not to go any big man in Nigeira for help. And God will bear me witness on this. In fact, people are calling me to ask if they have offended me. But I have made up my mind that at 50, I want to dedicate my life to fixing the problrems of Nigeria. I have travelled more than an average human being and I marvel that even samller countries like Gambia and Ghana are fixing their problems and we cannot fix ours. It means that it is not lack of money and lack of brains.

It is the problem of leadership. The people we have as leaders do not have the capacity to make a firm commitment to getting the right thing done at the right time. The next thing is infracturucture. Any nation that lacks infracturucture can nevr makes it. The only reason I moved my production department to Ghana is because of power. The reason we are not able to fix electricity in Nigeria is not because we don’t have money. We spend more money than Japan alone. It also boils down to the curruption issue. And I cannot understand why we cannot fix our roads. What is so difficult tarring our roads?

If you go to Cotonou now, you will be amazed.i was there when President Yayi Boni came in three years ago. Today, the man is building the fly-over. I doubt if we have been able to build a single fly-over in the last 20years in Nigeria. Look at the roads in Nigeria. They are so disgraceful. Even in Abuja, between Namdi Azikwe Airport and the city, you will see what I call gutter. The oyinbo man who created the word gutter would have forgotten because our leaders are over –ambitious and so vacious. All they think about is money, money and more money. So, they cannot fix anything.

Look at food production. I am a great fan of chairman Mao Tse Tung China. I read a lot about the agriculture revolution. That is my dream. For the first time, you are going to have a president who will wear jeans and T-shirt and go on that Lagos – Ibadan expressway. If every president had been on that road every time in a year, they would have fixed it. But what happens is that once you become a president in Nigeria, you become emperior. And then, you are put in a guilded cage. And you are just like animal in the zoo. You don’t know what is going on outside.

By the grace God, you are going to have someone, who is exposed enough to know the needs of the people. One of the hallmarks of leadership is the ability of the people to follow. What you need is to allow the people key into you and connect to you. I want to leave a leagacy. You are going to have a president, who in four years will be able to lay a solid foundation that nobody can uproot. That foundtion will be so deep-rooted and so implanted that Nigerians will key into it. And any other person, who treis to destablities it, will be so ashmed of himself. You don’t need to go any special school to become a president.

Business is not rocket science. It is just about the determinatioin of one man, who has been employed and who knows that his name will be written in gold.

Source: The News magazine.

Ondo State on Monday became the first State in the Federation to benefit from and disburse to farmers; the N1billion large Scale Agricultural Credit Scheme put in place by the Federal Government for on-lending to States, to fast-track the development of the agricultural sector and boost food production in the nation.
Presenting the letters of offer to the beneficiaries from the 18 local government areas of the State in Akure, the State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko disclosed that the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme was meant for the production of crops such as maize, cassava, vegetables adding that livestock, fisheries and agricultural processing activities were also involved.
According to Governor Mimiko, the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme offered to States by the Federal Government was to upscale productivity, employment generation, diversification of the revenue base and increase in foreign exchange earning capacity, as well as availability of raw materials for the industrial sector of the Nigerian economy.
His words: “In line with our strategy, the State has accessed the N1.0 billion Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme Credit facility for on-lending to our farmers, the State Executive Council, as part of its implementation strategy, constituted both the Cabinet and Technical Committees working in collaboration with officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria, United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) and other stakeholders to determine the modus operandi for the loan scheme. “Eligibility criteria for accessing the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme include among other things, genuine and practicing farmers, non-indebtedness of beneficiaries to financial institutions amongst others. The Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme interest is 9% including all charges, maximum tenure of 2 years and moratorium period of 6 months. “I wish to say for the avoidance of doubt that the N1.0 billion
Agricultural Credit is guaranteed by the State Government because of its genuine interest in the well-being of our farmers and promotion of the agricultural sector. Every beneficiary must, therefore, endeavour to utilize the credit facility and pay back within the stipulated time frame. This would enable others to benefit from the facility if and when repayment schedule is duly honoured.”
The Governor, who reiterated his administration’s determination to alleviate poverty and put Ondo State on an irreversible path of poverty eradication, said that as part of the fulfillment of the covenant he made on his inauguration as Governor on February 24, 2009, “I stand before you today to address one of the challenges facing the development of agriculture in the State.”
While positing that in real terms and in its compelling significance, agriculture had continued to retain a prominent position towards employment generation, economic prosperity and sustainable development in the State, Mimiko, however, regretted that in spite of these, however, the agricultural sector was replete with subsistence characteristics such as: low productivity, lack of credit facilities, storage facilities, relatively scarce mechanization infrastructure among others.
“This administration, in the quest to put agriculture in its rightful position has therefore ranked it first in its policy framework of “A CARING HEART.” Towards this, a budget of N2.998billion was approved in 2010 for development of agriculture in the State. Recently, I flagged off the Mobile Farm Service Centres to enable our farmers have unrestricted access to genuine and affordable agricultural inputs at subsidized rates. This effort is geared towards achieving food security in the State. It was the first of its kind in the State since its inception,” Mimiko, explained.
The Governor added that in his determination to continue to strengthen the efforts of farmers in the State with the provision of a conducive environment and facilities for increase in food production, his government’s mechanization strategy of acquisition of 100 tractors would be unveiled in due course, as soon as all the technicalities were sorted out with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.
He further disclosed that the State Ministry of Agriculture in partnership with the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget and other stake holders had embarked on a pilot scheme on tomato production in the State through the use of irrigation agronomy to make the State relatively self-reliant.
“Also, the Public Private Partnership Department in my office is widely consulting with foreign partners on prospects for the production of rice, sugar cane, vegetable and oil-palm in the State.
While the Ministry of Agriculture, in line with its mandate has organized participants into New Generation of Farmers. “The State Government in partnership with Leventis Foundation Nigeria Limited, established an Agriculture Training School at Ido-ani which had produced its first set of trained agriculturists, skilled in various agricultural activities. A group of Women in Agriculture made up of wives of State Executive Council members have made in-road into crop production and have planted over 30hectares of maize and prepared land for planting 30hectares of cassava. Some of the Star Projects of the Ministry of Agriculture are in various stages of implementation and would be commissioned in due course,” the Governor added.
The Governor who expressed appreciation to the Federal Government, State Cabinet and Technical implementation Committees, House of Assembly Committee on Agriculture, CBN, UBA Plc, the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) and other Stakeholders participated in the implementation and success of the scheme, “the end product of which you are witnessing today”, enjoined the first batch of beneficiaries to work hard to meet the food security expectation of the State. Saying: “It is with sense of pride and accomplishment that Ondo State is, by the event of today, the first State in the Federation to disburse part of the N1.0 billion credit facility to its farmers. We will continue to deliver on our mandate towards the upliftment of our farmers and in full consciousness of our responsibility,” Mimiko enthused.
-- Kolawole Olabisi,
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Ondo State, Governor's Office. Akure, Ondo State

NOT even the heavy downpour, yesterday, could stop residents of Akure, the Ondo State capital from trooping out to witness the traditional coronation of their monarch, the Deji of Akure, Oba Adebiyi Adegboye Adesida.

Adesida entered the palace weeks after he was announced as the new royal father for the ancient town.

Residents in their hundreds of thousands, defied the torrential rainfall, to witness the completion of the traditional rites leading to the Adesida’s ascension to the throne of his forebears as the 46th and the fifth in line of Adesida lineage to ascend the throne.

The new nonarch had undertaken three traditional rites leading to his ascension as the Deji as he had been kept at the Asamo’s palace for seven days, after he was brought from the farm and stayed in his father’s house for nine days to observe the traditional Arapon’s rites before yesterday’s rites.

As early as 9 a.m., Oba Adesida had left his father’s house for the Omolare’s palace where he had gone to pay homage to his predecessors.

The Omolare’s palace is the burial site of all the monarchs before him.

He made the last appearance to the Asamo’s palace from where he went to the Elemo’s palace.

At the Elemo’s palace, Adesida underwent tutorials on the ‘dos and don’ts’ in the palace.

The new monarch also proceeded to the Alakunre’s Groove and later to Ejio’s house where he collected his beads, before proceeding to Ooye’s house where the monarch and his eldest daughter were crowned.

He climbed the historical Okiti Omolore with his eldest daughter, Princess Adetutu, before entering the palace.

Amid thunderous applause from the people, the new monarch, who was accompanied by his wife, Olori Mojisola, was dressed in complete royal apparel with a cap to match and a horsetail with which he responded to the applause.

Yesterday’s coronation coincided with the Adesida’s 60th birthday anniversary.

Many residents, high chiefs and well-wishers dressed in various attires looked on in admiration and dancing as the new Adesida, a trained agriculturist, entered the palace.

In his short speech, he prayed that his reign would usher in peace, progress and peaceful coexistence of all the people in the town.

He promised to cooperate with government to bring about the rapid development of his domain.
Source; Babatope Okwowo, Compass

Olasupo and Olasupo’s facebook profile

Do you know all your friends on facebook? Olasupo Olanrewaju‘s story is a reminder that one should think twice before clicking on the ‘add‘ button when a friend request is received, writes TOYOSI OGUNSEYE.

Nothing about Olasupo Olanrewaju gives him away as a fraudster. Instead, his soft-spoken and gentle demeanor endears the 30-year-old man to most people.

Olasupo, therefore, has no problem making friends. In fact, his courteous nature makes the ladies love him. Unknown to most of the women, there is more to Olasupo than meets the eye.

The native of Ondo State, who claims to have an Ordinary National Diploma in Marketing from the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, utilizes the internet and all forms of social media to woo women. When he meets a lady, he introduces himself as a modelling agent who is in search of beautiful women to grace the billboards of multinational companies. If the lady agrees to work with him, he arranges a location in a part of Nigeria where she does not live. That is, if the woman lives in Abuja, he will ask her to meet him at a specific hotel in Benin or if she lives in Owerri, he will ask her to meet him in Lagos.

Ironically, Olasupo does not live in Nigeria. ”I live at Number 13, Ndam Amoarko New Town, Accra Ghana,” he says. According to him, he started living in Accra three years ago after his uncle who resides in Ghana asked Olasupo to stay with him. He says, ”I produce commercial jingles and I also have a barbing shop in Accra. I started living in Ghana in 2007.I went to Ghana with an uncle of mine who is into buying and selling. My uncle felt I could do better in Accra; that was why he took me along with him. When I visit Nigeria, I stay at Olunloyo, Ibadan.”

Olasupo, the sixth of his parents seven children, says that his first job after leaving the polytechnic, was as a marketer with Mutltichoice, ”Before I went to Ghana, I was living in Abuja where I worked as a contractor on the ninth floor of the Federal Ministry of Information and Communication. I used to repair computers when I was there. Just after my OND in Marketing from the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, I was living in Lagos. I was also producing commercial jingles and was involved in musical concerts for about seven years. I used to market for Mutichoice in Lagos. I did not go for my HND because I wanted to travel abroad.”

So desperate was his bid to travel overseas that Olasupo decided to con aspiring models on the Internet. Using facebook, which is one of the most common social networks, he searched for pretty ladies and added them to his friends‘ list. Once the lady agrees to his friend‘s request, Olasupo then sends a message to her inbox introducing himself as a modelling agent that has a fantastic offer for her. If the woman indicates any interest in the offer, Olasupo goes for the kill- he arranges a meeting in a city different from where the lady resides.

Without much persuasion, Olasupo tells SUNDAY PUNCH his modus operandi, he even volunteers information that he is not asked. He says, ”I am involved in fraudulent activities on the internet. I go online in search of models and pretend as if I have a genuine modelling outfit. I use facebook most of the time but I also use twitter and Niger Pals to search for girls. Basically, there are some platforms for models on these networks. I select randomly and contact them by sending a message to their inbox saying that I am a modelling agent. I will tell them that there is an auditioning for models that I want them to participate in by sending a message to their inbox. I ask the models for their pictures and ask them to send it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . I also add them as my friends on facebook. We exchange phone numbers and I give them an address to meet me outside Lagos for their auditioning. I ask them to meet me outside the city where they live because it is safer for me and they bring a lot of money along with them if they are travelling outside their state. I have 10 victims so far.”Olasupo, who bears Olasupo Davids on facebook, claims that he started this fraudulent activity about four months ago, ”I was involved in it last year; I stopped and went back to it again this year.”

When his victim gets to the hotel where he is to meet her, Olasupo teaches her the basics of modelling and catwalk on the first day. The next day, he dashes into her room very early in the morning and tells her that she should hurry up because they would be late for the audition. The highly expectant lady runs into the bathroom to have her bath, leaving Olasupo with her belongings in the room. He strikes at this point and steals all her belongings and disappears into thin air.

This was what happened to Abioye Olamide and Olaoye Folashade. In Abioye‘s case, he met her in a bus at Ado-Ekiti. ”I told her that I was a modelling agent and that she looked like a potential model. We then exchanged phone numbers.” He searched for her on facebook and they became friends. He then sent her a mail that read, ”You are hereby invited for the audition for a pictorial modelling billboard job for a visual advert. This will be coming up on August 24 and 26, 2010. You are to come with your costumes because you will be taking pictures and video at the audition venue. Your entry code is #NH-134. Venue is Governor‘s Centre, Akure/Ilesha. Time is 8a.m. We shall be looking forward to having you here, kindly print out this letter and come along with it. You will not be allowed without it. ”

The address on the mail is Gudtainment International, Plot 153, Mallam Rabiu Avenue,Off Maitama Road, Abuja which Olasupo says is not genuine.

When Abioye got to Akure, Olasupo taught her how to cat-walk and told her that they would go for the auditioning the following day. The next day, Olasupo asked her to have her bath because they were late for the event and made away with her belongings when she was in the bathroom.

In Olaoye‘s case, Olasupo invited her to Benin from Abuja after he met her on facebook. While she was also in the bathroom at Boston Hotel, he says he made away with all her belongings. He was also able to take N200,000 from her account because her Automated Teller Machine password that the bank gave her was in her bag. When Olaoye came out of the bathroom and noticed that Olasupo had gone with everything she had, she reported to the Central Intelligence Bureau in Benin.”

The spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Frank Mba, says that the police in Benin, were able to arrest Olasupo‘s friend, Lucky, who was the one that reserved the room in the hotel.

Olasupo says that he knows Lucky, ”We lived in Accra together and he is also involved in the same fraudulent activity. In fact, we use the same e-mail address.”

When Lucky was arrested, the police got a list of the next victims he and Olasupo were targeting and Olaoye got in touch with one of them through facebook. Olaoye told the lady, who was identified as Blessing, to play along with Olasupo.

Blessing, who resides in Owerri, was given an appointment at the Lakeview Hotel, Trade Fair, Lagos. When she got there, she met Olasupo waiting for her in the reception. Unknown to him, Blessing was a bait. Shortly after, the police from the Trade Fair Police Station arrested him at the hotel.

Mba says there is a lot to learn from Olasupo, ”There are so many Olasupos‘ out there. We need to learn how not to give our personal information to strangers. All the ladies that fell prey to Olasupo did not know him, yet they added him as their friend on facebook and agreed to meet a stranger in hotels. Also, once the bank gives you your ATM password, change it immediately.

Source: Toyosi Ogunseye, PUNCH NEWSPAPER