Published 8th Jun, 2022

By Opeyemi Lawal

Victor Kayode, an Ilesa-based event planner, has detailed how Ajayi Seyi, a fake staffer of the Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), duped him and his two other friends out of N280,000 after promising to help them secure jobs.

Kayode told FIJ that in May, he met Ajayi through a mutual friend, Akintunde Akinsola, a correctional officer in Osogbo, Osun State, who told him that there were vacant positions at the Lagos State Government Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, for him and his friends.

“My friends and I reached out to Ajayi and he confirmed it. He told us that Akintunde had informed him about us already and he was willing to help,” he said.

“He said we were going to pay for several documents, including Lagos State indigene certificates, medical and Covid-19 tests, LASRAA, employment letters, age declarations from a court, and primary school testimonials.

“My friends and I were skeptical at first, as we questioned the need for all the documents, but Ajayi told us the documents were essential to get a job in Lagos because the Lagos State employment process could be a bit strict, especially for those of us coming from other states.

“He asked us to confirm things from his Akinsola, who later told us Ajayi was a level 13 officer at the LIRS. We believed him and decided to pay for the documents.”

He told FIJ that Seyi requested that they each pay N5,000 for an indigene certificate, N6,000 for medical examination, N12,000 for a Covid-19 test, N15,000 for an employment letter, another N5,000 for age declaration, N5,000 for the Lagos State Residents Registration, and N10,000 for a primary school testimonial.

“He told us to come for interviews and screening. We had to take permission from our employer and we were told not to come back once we left,” said Kayode.

Victor told FIJ that the same week, he and his friends traveled from Osun to Lagos to kickstart their employment process as Ajayi had told them.

“I and my friends were unbothered since we thought we were getting LIRS appointments. We had earlier paid N40,000 to him for accommodation in Lagos, plus another N7,000 which he said was for electrical wiring and key collection,” he said.

He said Ajayi kept demanding for money, and in total, each of them paid N65,000, minus their accommodation fee. However, he kept giving excuses when they arrived in Lagos.

“We got to Lagos and wanted to see him. He said he was busy sorting out our recruitment exercise. He lied that some powerful guys in Lagos wanted to tamper with the slots he gave us. He mentioned Oba Ridwan Akinolu, Senator Layi, Bola Tinubu. He also said he had gone to the head office to meet with the top dogs on our case,” Kayode said.

“Afterwards, he said he had settled everything and our interview would be on Friday because we had left Osun on Monday. At this point, we knew something was wrong.

“We decided to visit the secretariat, and we went to all the ministries asking about him. Unfortunately, no one knew him. But a particular security officer at the ministry of information identified him, as a case like ours had been reported earlier.

“He advised us to go to the nearest police station, which was the Ikeja Police Division. We got there and the police officer didn’t even pay attention to us. They asked us to bring N50,000 before they would listen to us.

“No one was ready to hear us out except some few guys at the secretariat. We immediately contacted Akintunde about the whole thing. He was acting surprised, but then we realized they had connived to dupe us all along.

“Before we knew it, Ajayi blocked the three of us and barred us from communicating with him.”

When FIJ contacted Ajayi, he denied the accusations and disconnected the call. A text message sent to him had not been responded to at press time.

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