Published 9th Jul, 2023

By Tola Owoyele

In December 2022, Dele Ajayi (not real name), a US-based Nigerian, was introduced to Michael Ayodeji Adeliyi, a “pastor and forex trading expert“, by a mutual friend.

Following their initial meeting, and because he came highly recommended, Dele decided to allow Adeliyi trade on his behalf.

It later turned out to be a wrong move as the pastor he thought he could trust stole N1.5 million from him.

THE INTRODUCTION

“I met Michael Ayodeji Adeliyi, who claims to be a pastor, through a mutual friend a few years back. While I was still in Nigeria, I would hold prayer sessions together with the mutual friend and over time, I came to know him as a sincere, honest and straightforward person,” Dele told FIJ.

“Afterwards, and when the mutual friend decided to introduce me to Adeliyi, I had no doubt in my mind that he would also turn out to be trustworthy.”

The mutual friend would subsequently recommend Adeliyi to Dele as an expert in forex trading.

“Because I had always had interest in investing along that line, and because he came highly recommended, I associated myself with the pastor.

“I also did not hesitate to allow him trade on my behalf.”

According to Dele, Adeliyi started trading fully on his behalf in December 2022.

“He was really actually managing the account on my behalf. Prior to this period, I had already let him into how I had run into a huge loss while trying out all kinds of businesses and he had assured me that things would be different under him.

“During a period, I suddenly discovered that he wasn’t reachable for two days. When I was able to login to my trading profile, I discovered that I had run into a loss of $6,000.

“He would subsequently send me a voice note with another line different from his usual phone number to say that he had been robbed.

“In the end, I had to close trading on my own.

“He also said I should give him some time before he would recommence trading, and I said he should take all the time he needed.”

THE N1.5 MILLION FRAUD

Dele's WhatsApp conversation with Adeliyi

A few days after the alleged robbery incident, Adeliyi told Dele that he needed some money for a particular trading opportunity.

“He told me that there was a particular trade that was quite lucrative at the time, and that he would like us to trade in it,” Dele said.

“On hearing this, I suggested he take over the previous account from me, but he said he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to trade in large volumes yet.

“He then said he needed some money from me and that he would take over trading with the main account later.

“While making the request, he kept on hammering on the point that the capital was needed so he could take advantage of the market.

“Because of the meticulous way he had been trading in the past, and despite the armed robbery incident he claimed had happened to him, I quickly raised N1.5 million for him in March.”

The moment Adeliyi received the N1.5 million from Dele, he cut off all communication ties.

“Not only did he stop answering my calls, he also stopped responding to my WhatsApp messages,” Dele said.

“When I asked my cousin who is based in Nigeria to help me call him, he finally answered the phone and claimed he was busy. When he was asked why he had refused to answer my call, he was unable to come up with a concrete excuse.

“To date, he has refused to answer my calls. This is one man that loves to parade himself as a pastor. He knew I had a prior issue with a business and he still thought he could defraud me. I thought he was someone that could be trusted because of the way he loves to parade himself.”

FIJ made several phone calls to Adeliyi for comments on the allegation on Thursday morning, but they were not answered. At press time, he had also not responded to a text message and an email sent to him.

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