Published 4th Nov, 2023

In 2020, Oluwadamilare Edun, a Lagos resident, and his wife, decided to relocate to South Korea via the job visa route.

They got in contact with Seyi Ogunbakin, a Nigerian businessman based in South Korea, to help them process the visa at the cost of N1.6 million.

Edun, who is also a travel agent, told some of his clients about the offer of a promising future in South Korea. The clients felt the idea was pleasing and they were ready to relocate.

Edun told FIJ he met Ogunbakin through Ojo Oluwole, a church member who had touted the former as a reputable and trustworthy person.

“We were together for a while, and then one day, Oluwole said he had an old friend who was assisting him and his wife on a South Korea job visa,” Edun said.

“Oluwole told me one of the deacons in the church was married to a South Korean and he needed people, especially Nigerians, to work there.

“This sounded good, and I asked that my application, my wife’s and my elder brother’s be processed too, since Oluwole said Ogunbakin was doing it for free.”

Receipts of some of the money sent to Seyi Ogunbakin

“I spoke with Seyi Ogunbakin and then he consented to helping us with processing the job in South Korea. I also told some of my clients who I knew wanted to travel. Some of them sent in their passports and money, and Ogunbakin consented to helping us all.”

PANDEMIC EXCUSES

Edun said while all this happened before the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, everything he received from his clients he sent to Ogunbakin, alongside his own processing fee

“Everything I received from them, I forwarded to Seyi Ogunbakin and also showed proof to those people,” he said.

“We were paying him continuously and he kept assuring us that he was processing our visas. He told us the entire process would only take three weeks and then we would all have to go to Abuja.

“Later, Ogunbakin came to announce that he had misplaced all the passports we sent to him in Abuja. He said we would need to look for a way to get our visas stamped but we would be doing non-appearance. With this, I found another way to get the original passports across to him with hopes that the end of the process was near.”

Edun told FIJ that the pandemic worsened Ogunbakin’s excuses as he kept spinning lies to prolong the process, especially towards the end of 2020.

“Several weeks down the line, I didn’t hear anything about the promised visa. He kept using the pandemic as an excuse for the delay,” said Edun.

“I got pissed and requested evidence that he was working on the visa processing as promised. He then sent me a fake contract letter from an existing company in South Korea.

Fake letter Seyi Ogunbakin sent to show he had got them jobs in South Korea

“While the company exists, I later established that he had no affiliations whatsoever there. This time, he told me he had moved to Ghana but could not enter Nigeria because of the pandemic. He just continued to make excuses.”

The travel agent said when the visas didn’t come, his own clients started to disturb him for a refund and he had to offset the debt with his own money.

He said that even when he reported him to Oluwole, who introduced them, he realised that they were accomplices.

“He has not returned my money or that my customers despite not getting any of us visas,” said Edun.

‘I WILL PAY N100,000 MONTHLY’

In response to FIJ’s enquiry, Seun Ogunbakin said that he did a business which went wrong during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I had a business, but it went wrong because of COVID-19,” he told FIJ.

“Instead of him to be patient so we could sort things amicably, he started to threaten and post my pictures.

“Also, the amount he mentioned to you is not what I owe him. He lied to you. What I have to pay him is N1.3 million.

“I am willing to negotiate a repayment plan with him. I will be giving him N100,000 monthly. I am not working at the moment, and things are not so cool with me here in Ghana. I am only managing.

“But as from October ending, every last day of the month, he will be credited N100,000.”

When FIJ presented this response to Edun, he explained that he only offered to take N1.3 million, instead of N1.6 million, because that was what Ogungbakin could account for.

However, he stated that he doubted Ogunbakin owing up to his words of a monthly payment of N100,000 as he was only trying to prevent publication.

To ensure Ogunbakin did not forget to keep to his promise, FIJ sent him a reminder on October 19, which was not acknowledged.

On November 2, FIJ contacted him again to remind him of the timeframe, but he said he could not make any transfer from his present location.

“I am trying to transfer here but no way,” he said.

“I will go to the border this Saturday to go and send it.”

However, FIJ can confirm that Ogunbakin had not sent the money to Edun at press time.

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