In March 2024, Emmanuel Makinde, a Nigerian student in the United Kingdom, received an email from the Home Office that would change his life for the worse.

His partner in Nigeria had applied to join him in the United Kingdom, but instead of a routine update, the message delivered a demand: he had to submit a divorce certificate.

It was the first time Makinde, 28-year-old, realised he was married.

According to the Home Office, records showed that Makinde was legally tied to a woman he had never met. A stranger, living somewhere in the UK.

That single email sent him spiralling into the details of a marriage he never consented to and a series of police reports, and desperate writing to prove he was not part of a growing trend of forged unions tied to immigration fraud.

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WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

When Makinde first approached his pastor in Lagos in 2021, his sights were set on Canada. Like many others, he wanted an escape from a difficult economy and the promise of something better.

“I was tired of struggling here,” Makinde told FIJ.

The pastor introduced him to Shitta Waliu Aderibigbe, who claimed he could secure a Canadian visa for N5.2 million. Makinde paid in full. But five months after his application for a visa, he was notified that his application had failed.

By then, Aderibigbe had a new offer: a guaranteed student visa to the UK, for another N5 million, plus a £2,000 school deposit. As a desperate Nigerian, he went for that option too.

By early 2023, Makinde had his visa. On February 8, he boarded his flight, believing his journey to a better life had finally begun.

Before leaving Nigeria, he made a quiet promise to his fiancée. If the relationship held firm, and if things went well abroad, she would join him within the year.

As he prepared to make good on that promise in early 2024, the Home Office email arrived. Instead of processing his partner’s papers, officials wanted proof he had legally ended his marriage to a woman he had never heard of.

THE FORGED MARRIAGE

It took a formal Subject Access Request to uncover what had gone wrong.

Buried inside his immigration file was a Nigerian marriage certificate with Makinde’s name on it, listing him as the spouse of a UK-based woman.

Makinde hadn’t signed it. The 28-year-old hadn’t attended any registry. He had no idea how the document got there — except through the man he had paid to handle his visa processing.

“The agent destroyed my life,” Makinde said. “I lost my job, my savings, everything.”

When Makinde confronted the agent, the man first denied any involvement. Shortly after, he blocked Makinde on WhatsApp.

“I had to send messages to my agent about what was going on. After viewing that message, he blocked me off which I have the screenshots in the WhatsApp conversation. He blocked me off,” Makinde narrated.

“I have to send him a WhatsApp conversation. I have to send him a message again with my UK number, the one I’m calling you with right now. I have to send him a message again that what is going on? That you blocked me on my WhatsApp.

“He told me that he’s very busy that I need to call him. So I gave him a call. I recorded this conversation anyway.

“I asked him, ‘What is going on?’ and he just shut me out. After that, I knew something was very wrong.

A CASE HARD TO PROVE

Makinde’s situation is made more difficult by how the application was submitted.

The Home Office told him there was no indication anyone else had applied on his behalf. The email address linked to the visa belonged to him. The declarations carried his name.

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Makinde insists the agent controlled the email during the application process and only handed over the login after Makinde had arrived in the UK. By then, key documents were missing.

“I arrived in the United Kingdom and requested access to that email address because, every time I needed something, I had to ask the agent to check my email and forward it to me. I got tired of that constant back-and-forth, so I asked him, ‘Can I have direct access to this email address so I don’t have to keep contacting you?’” Makinde said.

“When he sent me the username and password and I logged in, I immediately sensed something was off. I made sure to record everything related to that email on my phone as proof.

“I had previously emailed the agent asking for my application and my old student application form for UKVI, and he told me that everything was on that email address. However, when I checked it, there was nothing there. I had to record a screen capture showing that, upon logging into the account, all the contents were wiped clean.”

In hindsight, Makinde believes he should have been more involved in his application. He had totally ceded the responsibility of his application to this agent. He believed, at the time, that he paid Aderibigbe for getting the job done professionally.

Without hard evidence to show someone else interfered, Makinde fears his case is being treated like just another example of deliberate fraud. His fears are not unfounded. In 2023, UK authorities jailed four people for forging more than 2,000 marriage documents for Nigerian nationals.

ARRESTS AND AFTERMATH

After nearly a year of trying to clear his name, Makinde and lawyer Deji Adeyanju turned to the police. In 2024, the agent who handled his visa was arrested in Nigeria.

Monday Onoja of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) in Abuja confirmed the arrest to FIJ. On March 4, FIJ called a lawyer involved in the matter. She promised to inform her superior and revert.

On March 5, FIJ called the lawyer again. At that time, she said she was in court and would respond as soon as she left.

Meanwhile, FIJ had sent a message detailing the questions and purpose of the call on Tuesday. The messages had received no response at press time. No one returned the calls either.

WAITING FOR AN END

Makinde’s life has been on hold ever since. The Home Office in the UK already declared his immigration illegal after Makinde’s partner attempted to apply for a visa as his spouse.

With a fraudulent marriage still attached to his immigration records, he is unable to move forward with his partner’s application. His work prospects are unstable. His legal status seems fragile.

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“I’ve been trying to survive in very hard ways,” he said.

“I’m afraid immigration might come for me. You just don’t know how it feels, living like that.”

For now, Makinde waits. For an investigation. For his name to be cleared. For proof that he is not married to someone he has never met.

“I only wanted a better life,” he said. “Now I just want my real life back.”