N3b fraud: RULAAC alerts Senate of rogue EFCC, police officials working for alleged female serial fraudster
By Ishaya Ibrahim
The Rule of Law Accountability and Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has petitioned the Senate Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions on the existence of a syndicate in the police and EFCC who specialize in shielding a serial fraudster and punishing her victims.
The petition, signed by RULAAC’s executive director, Okechukwu Nwanguma, was addressed to Senator Neda Usman, the chairman of the committee.
According to Nwanguma, RULAAC resorted to petitioning the Senate because the agencies of government involved in the issues (the police and EFCC) have not demonstrated genuine sincerity to diligently and effectively investigate many previous petitions from different sources on the serial involvement of the same individual.
The case involved a foreign exchange transaction between one Mrs Titilayo Eboh, owner of ‘Blessed Hope Foundation,’ an NGO, and Chinedu Ngwaka, a Bureau d’change operator based in Lagos.
According to the petition, Ngwaka was introduced to Mrs Eboh by a branch manager of a bank in the South East as a supplier of forex.
The petition reveals that trust was built between Ngwaka and Mrs Eboh as every time he pays for a specific amount of forex, she provides.
Things however took a different turn when Ngwaka said he paid N3 billion to Mrs Eboh for the equivalent of forex. He got his fingers burnt as Mrs Eboh allegedly defaulted and refused to refund his money.
The petition reveals that after lodging a complaint to the police and EFCC, Mrs Eboh was allegedly briefly detained and released. Ngwaka then curiously became the subject of a probe, detained and forced to pay N6 million twice as bail, according to the petition.
TheNiche made several efforts to contact Mrs Eboh via calls, text messages and WhatsApp messages to hear hear her side of the story. All three numbers registered in her name were switched off, even after 24 hours of the initial messages sent to her. Her husband’s number was also switched off.
Here’s the full petition.
“This is regarding the existence of what appears like a fraud syndicate involving one Mrs. Titilayo Eboh and associates suspected to operate in cahoots with some unscrupulous law enforcement operatives and units within the Nigeria Police and the EFCC who benefit from her serial crimes, and compromise and derail investigation in order to shield her and assist her evade justice while her victims are not only denied justice but further victimized.
“The case of one Chinedu Ngwaka, a Bureau d’change operator based in Lagos, is illustrative. Chinedu Ngwaka informed RULAAC as follows: That he has been trading in dollars and assisting his customers access FOREX for their international trade and importation of goods.That he had been doing this business for many years without any problem until he ran into this woman called Mrs Titilayo Mary Eboh who fronts a certain NGO ‘BLESSED HOPE FOUNDATION’ as well as some companies such as SKOLOLO MOTORS LTD, EBOLEEY C INVESTMENTS LTD, among others.
“That a branch manager at Access Bank in Anambra State linked him up to the said Mrs. Titilayo Eboh. That he and Mrs. Titilayo started doing this business. He would give her Naira, and she would credit him in dollars, and this was going on smoothly until the last transaction that went awry.That the money involved in this transaction leading to his being defrauded by Mrs. Titilayo Eboh is over Three billion naira (3,000,000,000) from different customers who are now on his neck. That unknown to him, Mrs. Titilayo already had some pending cases of alleged telex fraud with the EFCC. That he has another business partner, Uchenna Echendu, who is also being dragged by his customers at EFCC over the same bitter experience with Mrs. Titilayo Eboh.
“That when Mrs. Titilayo Eboh sent him Telex for the last transaction, he forwarded same to his customers/creditors as usual, but this time, it turned out to be fake. His customers started complaining and asking why he sent them fake telex, and he was shocked at this unexpected development. That he brought this development to the attention of Mrs. Titilayo Eboh and sought explanations, but she was unable to provide any meaningful explanation, nor would she ensure the correction of the problem. That when it dawned on him that he had been defrauded and now in trouble with his clients (creditors), he moved to locate Mr.s Titilayo Eboh in Abuja, where she operates from. He lodged criminal complaints of fraud against her at the EFCC and the Nigeria Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Abuja.
“That by this time, his customers whose money had been stuck became impatient and began to worry him asking for their money to be returned to them. That following his complaint to the IRT, Mrs. Titilayo Eboh was arrested by operatives of the IRT Abuja, detained and released after 4 days. He said the IRT investigators told him that Mrs. Titilayo Eboh had promised to pay back the money in a few weeks.
“That while Mrs. Titilayo Eboh was yet to fulfill her undertaking to refund the money, the IRT operatives invited him to come and explain the sources of the money and how he sent them.That he strongly suspects that the investigation team may have compromised the investigation and appear to have turned him from a complainant into the accused by turning their focus of investigation into questioning him about the source of the funds and how he sent the money, all of which were already explained in his complaint against the suspect , Mrs.Titilayo Eboh.
“That one Femi, one of the IRT operatives in the investigation team, is claiming that Mrs. Titilayo Eboh is hospitalised and at the ICU (intensive care unit).
“That one of his clients, Tochukwu Unachukwu, whose money is involved in the transaction lost his patience and decided to lodge a complaint against him at the FCID Annexe, Alagbon, Lagos alleging that he (Chinedu) used the money he paid into his account for FOREX to buy a Hilux truck.That this prompted his arrest by operatives from Alagbon, whom he told, during his interrogation, about his predicament in the hands of Mrs. Titilayo Eboh and that he had pending petitions against her at the IRT Abuja, the EFCC and later with the IGP Monitoring Unit, Abuja, all in his desperation to get the woman to return his clients’ money with her.
“That he denied the allegation of using the complainant’s money to buy a Hilux truck and stated that he had bought his Hilux truck far back in February 2024 before the extant transaction happened.That despite his explanations to the investigators at Alagbon, including informing them about his prior petition and pending cases at the IRT, Abuja, the investigators at Alagbon focused on the allegation that he used the complainant’s money to buy a Hilux truck, ignoring his explanation and did not bother to reach out to the IRT to ascertain the extent of their own investigation and the possibility of harmonizing the different case files.That the investigators at Alagbon, after profiling him and obtaining his statement, froze his account and his wife’s account and confiscated his Hilux, which is currently kept at the station premises. That the operatives later extorted the sum of Three million naira (3,000,000) from him, which they made him transfer through a POS operator who was called into the station by the operatives before they granted him bail.
“That as he was leaving the FCID Alagbon premises after being forced to transfer the Three million naira (3,000,000) for bail, he was re-arrested at the gate on the claim by the same operatives that another complaint had been lodged against him by another client whose money is also involved in the transaction.That he was taken back into custody and asked to arrange for another surety to take him on bail for the second complaint against him. He was made to transfer another Three million naira (3,000,000) for bail, bringing the total sum extorted from him to a total of Six million naira (6,000,000).
“A national human rights commission official informed RULAAC that some hours after he visited the FCID Alagbon to verify the Six million naira (6,000,000) extortion claim, FCID Alagbon paraded Chinedu in the media, labeling him a fraudster.That he believes that parading him as a fraudster over baseless allegations against him still under investigation is prejudicial to his constitutional rights to fair hearing and to the presumption of innocence, and that it was done in retaliation for his revealing the fact that he was extorted of Six million naira (6,000,000) for bail.
“That while the IRT appears to have compromised the investigation into his complaint to them against Mrs. Titilayo Eboh, some of his clients (creditors) have lodged complaints against him at FCID Alagbon, prompting his arrest, detention, and extortion before granting him bail; freezing his account and his wife’s account, confiscating his vehicle, and later publicly parading and labeling him a fraudster.
“He said he’s distraught that all this have happened to him despite his providing evidence to the investigators that every single money that entered his account in respect of his transaction with Mrs Titilayo Eboh was promptly transferred into Mrs Titilayo Eboh’s account, yet, the police looked away, refused to see the facts and evidence, and ended up collecting bribe of a total of Six million naira (6,000,000) from him twice for bail and are still saying they will charge him to court.
“Grave Concerns: RULAAC had received a previous similar complaint of alleged fraud involving this same Mrs. Titilayo Eboh.The same manager in a branch of Access Bank in Anambra State aforementioned also introduced his female colleague to this same Mrs Titilayo EBOH as a reliable FOREX dealer. The female banker, confident that the contact came from her manager in her bank, trusted him and collected over 300 million naira from her customers, and gave to the Mrs. Titilayo Eboh to deliver the dollar equivalent. She suddenly disappeared with the whole money till date.
“The female banker lost her pregnancy and has been depressed ever since. She has also contemplated suicide and has been sick.Some of her customers have also lodged reports against her at Zone 13 Police Zonal Command, Ukpo, where she had been invited many times, detained, made to pay for her bail, and suffered a lot of ordeal.
“We are gravely concerned about the following:Persistent Fraud and Unchecked Operations: Mrs. Eboh’s alleged fraudulent activities span several years, during which she has repeatedly been accused of defrauding individuals and businesses, including a $2 million scam reported in 2019, a N2 Billion fraud case for which she was arraigned by the EFCC in 2018 and countless other alleged fraudulent schemes, yet no significant actions have been taken to halt her alleged criminaloperations.
“Compromise of Law Enforcement: In the case of the female banker in Anambra State aforementioned, Mrs. Eboh was initially arrested by IRT operatives in Abuja but was subsequently granted bail under questionable circumstances similar to Ngwaka’s case under reference, facilitated by individuals with whom she maintains personal and business relations.
“Allegations of bribery and corruption within the EFCC and the Police, particularly involving certain identified operatives, have further compounded the challenges faced by the victims in seeking justice.
“Complicity of Associates: Mrs. Eboh’s alleged accomplices, including her husband, Mr. Livinus Eboh, and one Dr. Mrs. Blessing Chibunna Anyaokei-Gozi, who owns VISCOUNT MICROFINANCE BANK and who facilitated her bail in some previous cases and suspectedly received some portions of the stolen funds through her company Charblecom Properties Ltd, continues to remain uninvestigated and unprosecuted. These individuals are believed to be integral to the fraud scheme, receiving and laundering funds on behalf of Mrs. Eboh.
“CALL TO ACTION:These allegations, including the alleged collusion of some EFCC and police operatives in benefiting from serial crime, derailing and compromising investigations in order to shield the culprit from justice, are weighty and scandalous. They have serious implications for the integrity and public perception of both the EFCC and the Police.
“RULAAC calls on the Senate Committee to conduct a comprehensive and effective investigation into the numerous fraud allegations by different complainants against this same Mrs Titilayo Eboh and her accomplices, as well as the role and involvement of some identified operatives and units within the two agencies in compromising investigations, benefiting from her crimes, shielding her from prosecution, and in some cases twisting investigations to further victimize the complainants and deny them justice.
“We request the Committee to require from the Inspector-General of Police and the Chairman of the EFCC to avail the senate of reports of investigations they have carried out on the numerous petitions from different sources against the same Mrs Titilayo Eboh. We call on the Senate, in particular, to order a review of the basis for freezing the bank accounts of Mr. Chinedu Ngwaka and his wife, the confiscation of his vehicle, and the extortion of the sum of 6 million naira from him by operatives at the FCID Alagbon, with a view to ordering the defreezing of the accounts, the release of the vehicle, and refund of the extorted money, and appropriate disciplinary actions against those involved in corrupt practices.
“Accept the assurances of our highest consideration as we trust in your commitment to promptly, comprehensively, and impartially investigating this grave matter with a view to ensuring remedies for the victims and accountability for the perpetrators.”