Amos Asuelimen, a student of the Department of Business Administration at Ambrose Alli University, and one Kelvin Ogashi, an 18-year-old fashion designer, were paraded by the Department of State Services for impersonating Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s Vice President, and Aisha Buhari, the First Lady of Nigeria.
The suspects were paraded by Galadima Byange, Deputy Director (Security Enforcement) of the DSS, in Edo on Wednesday.
Before their arrest, the suspects had allegedly defrauded no less than five people in Benin.
According to him, the duo demanded money and airtime from their victims to process their registration and subsequent eligibility for a N100,000 loan.
Byange said, Asuelimen, 30, was arrested at Ubiaja, Esan South-East Local Government Area of the state in connection with a fictitious Facebook account he created in Osinbajo’s name to defraud his victims.
Confessing to the crime, the 30-year-old student said: “I know why I was arrested. I created a Facebook account bearing Yemi Osinbajo to scam people. I created it using my Infinix Android phone.
“My parents are not aware and nobody is aware that I’m committing frauds. I am into fraud because I thought I could get money to pay my fees and complete my degree course.”
Byange said Ogashi allegedly pretended to be the wife of the president on Instagram to swindle people.
“He (Ogashi) confessed to having created the account in May 2019 with a message that the First Lady was empowering Nigerian youths with cash to start their businesses and that interested persons were required to register with money. His accomplices are currently at large,” the DSS officer stated.
