Dickson Felix, a banker, has alleged that Babangida Tanko, an assistant comptroller at the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) in Abuja and Special Adviser to Rauf Aregbesola, the Minister of Interior, defrauded him of N1,250,000.

Felix told FIJ that a client had introduced Tanko to him as a senior NIS official who could help him get a replacement job at the agency. He explained that the NIS does not advertise replacement jobs, but reserves slots only for its senior staff members.

He stated that he contacted Tanko in June 2020 and asked him to help his wife and sister secure a replacement job at the NIS in Abuja, and he assured him that he would help them get the job.

 “I paid him N150,000 for my wife and sister in June 2020, after learning that he works for the Minister of Interior. In the transfer, I signified that it was for employment purposes only, and he got angry. He said such a narration could mar the employment because it was indicting,” Felix told FIJ.

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Felix said he paid for six other relatives of his up to February 2021, hoping that they would ask them to resume at the NIS in Abuja. But after a while, he suspected that something might have gone wrong.

“I noticed that people assumed roles and trainings went on, but my people were not among them. Tanko kept dribbling me and stopped taking my calls. I called him and told him he did nothing,” he said.

“I asked him to refund my money. But Tanko said it would not be possible. And from the way he spoke, it was clear that he had only collected my money doing nothing.“

Felix said he researched Tanko to know if he was who he presented himself as. He said he found that he was a fraudulent staff member of the NIS.

“I discovered that he has scammed so many victims under the guise of helping them. Most people contacted him because he is a high-ranking official,” he said.

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“I emailed the servicom unit of the NIS. One officer in the unit said there were complaints about Tanko defrauding people. They said he was powerful and would use his influence to quench so many things.”

When FIJ called Tanko, he said he would do a conference call and add this reporter with the comptroller general in charge of the recruitment for him to explain.

“You are talking to the Special Adviser to the Minister. I will add you to a conference call with the chief comptroller general in charge of the recruitment. Maybe he can talk to you. Maybe, I am not sure. If he says I should talk to you, I will. If he says I should not talk to you, then maybe he will invite you briefly to come,” he said.