Mr. Abayomi Oluwasesan, an associate of international fraudster Jesam Michael Ubi, the CEO of Afriq Arbitrage System (AAS), has accused police officers of illicitly transferring some of his properties to Jesam and sharing the others.
Abayomi disclosed this in a petition dated February 14, 2025, filed through his lawyer, A.O Esan Esq., and sent to the Police Service Commission and the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
On Tuesday, SaharaReporters reported that Jesam appeared in the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Bwari division, earlier in the day to seek bail as he faces charges for defrauding thousands of Nigerians and numerous others around the world.
SaharaReporters learned that Justice Mohammed Idris of the FCT High Court, Bwari Division, had earlier issued a restraining order against Jesam and ordered his immediate release in a motion ex parte. Justice Idris also directed the 1st to 3rd respondents—the Nigeria Police Force, Inspector General of Police (IGP), and Deputy Commissioner of Police Okezie Chikezie (Anti-Fraud section)—to produce the applicant in court at the next adjournment date.
SaharaReporters also reported that Jesam wasn’t initially on the police radar when he sought their help to recover approximately $87 million that he alleged was stolen from his account by his associate, Ayobami.
However, in his petition, Ayobami told the police authorities that he took about $10 million, not $87.5 million as Jesam had claimed. Ayobami told the police that he and Jesam entered into a contractual business relationship, which specifically entailed that he built and managed a cryptocurrency trading platform for Jesam, with an agreement to share the profit 80% to 20%—with the bulk going to Jesam.
Ayobami said that Jesam reneged on the agreement and refused to pay his share, forcing him to withdraw from their platform his portion of the profit as previously agreed.
Earlier, SaharaReporters revealed that sources indicated Jesam had lied about the money to exploit the disagreement with his associate and avoid paying investors.
SaharaReporters also reported that the police recovered approximately $3 million from Ayobami and assisted Jesam in reclaiming properties.
In his petition to the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the Inspector General of Police, obtained from sources, Abayomi detailed all the properties taken from him by the police officers involved in the case, noting that some were handed over to Jesam while others were divided among the law enforcement officers.
Abayomi listed the properties seized by the police and distributed among themselves and Jesam as including: House in Spring Valley Estate Ajah worth N55 million; Lakwe Golf Estate worth N500 million; 2 bedroom under construction in Lakwe Golf Estate worth N170 million; House in Peaknock Estate worth N954 million; House at Bakere Estate worth N250 million; Shopping Mall in Agungi worth N180 million; Lounge at Orisunbare worth N700 million and 125 plots of land at Dangote refinery (area) worth N1.2 billion.
Others include Mercedes Benz G Wagon black 2019 G63 worth N250 million; Toyota Venza Ash 2010 worth N13 million; Toyota Sienna Ash 2013 worth N18 million; GLE coupe black 2018 worth N48 million; GLE white 4Matic 2018 worth N35 million; Benz 300 4Matic 2013 worth N10 million; 2 Prado SUVs worth N40 million; 3 plots of land in Badore Ajah worth N250 million; 1 plot of land at the same Badore worth N90 million; 1 plot of land in Badore inside an estate worth N40 million; $3 million/N4.7 billion worth of USDT taken from my cryptocurrency wallet at gunpoint by Interpol for Jesam; Gold jewellery worth N20 million; and Apple laptops, iPad and iPhone worth N10 million.
In the petition, Abayomi said his “phone was given to Inspector John and other was shared within the police officers”.
Others listed are “Lounge at Alakuko worth N1.2 billion” and a “complex of Apple Store at Ikeja worth N700 million”.
A calculation by SaharaReporters indicates that the value of the properties and USDT allegedly taken from Abayomi’s cryptocurrency wallet amounts to N10,878,000,000.
Abayomi’s Claims In Petition
In the petition, Abayomi, who described himself as an “accomplished cyber security and website developer,” said, “Sir, our client in the space of a short time practising his craft and with his rising profile in the ‘tech world’, our client was able to attract to himself (to) corporate organisations who were falling over themselves to hire his professional service.
“One of them happens to be Afriq Arbitrage System Ltd, whose chief executive officer is a certain Mr Jesam Micheal Ubi. Our client and Mr Jesam’s Afriq Arbitrage System Ltd soon entered into contractual business relationship, which specifically entails that our client builds and manages for Mr Jesam Company a crypto currency trading platform.
“Our client admits that all the financial resources for this purpose was provided by Mr Jesam whilst all the technical know-how, requisite for the creation and management of the platform were been provided by our client and his team. The contractual basis was that aside from the periodical sharing of mutually agreed and identifiable profit elements of the business, a quarterly comprehensive stocktaken of the business will be carried out and profit shall be shared on a 80 ratio to Afriq Arbitrage System Ltd and 20 percent ratio to our client.”
Abayomi said the platform soon yielded money for them, adding, “Mr Jesam was still not done with this fortune, he called our client’s attention to the fact that a whole lot of money could still be made using the instrumentality of the trading platform to starch funds and launder money for politicians and other folks.
The petition reads, “The introduction of this new dimension, our client fully declined to be involved with, but he rather advised Mr Jesam to let them continue to devote their time and energy on their clean clear crypto currency platform and not to adulterate it with outright illegalities.
“Mr Jesam would not hear any of this, he promised that within weeks he will replace our client with tech savvy Koreans, Indians and Chinese experts. This hazy bait our client refused to swallow, but nevertheless, Mr Jesam nudged on.
“Sir, contrary to the parties’ agreement upon reaching the end of the first quarter of their official partnership business relationship, our client drew the attention of Mr Jesam to the need for them to do the agreed stock evaluation and profit sharing.
“It was at this point that Mr Jesam started all manner of subterranean moves, subterfuge and outright hostilities against our client, claiming that the whole venture was his brainchild and exclusive enterprise and that our client does not have tinge of basis to call him to question or make any demand on him.
“In a couple of weeks thereafter, Mr Jesam told our client that he was sick and he was scheduled for medical operation in India and that upon his return, he will look into all complaints that our client have, whilst urging our client to carry on with the joint venture business with every sense of dedication.
“Suffice to state here, that most ironically there was no business for our client to carry on; Mr Jesam has gone to employ the service of Koreans and Chinese tech experts to hack and hijack the platform from the control of our client. The password to the platform hitherto exclusively shared by our client and Mr Jesam was changed. Our client could no longer have access to the trading platform and all efforts by our client to reach Mr Jesam was rebuffed by him. Our client informed us that Mr Jesam was on hand sarcastically referring to him as a neophyte and toddler in the game.
“Given this parlous development and to salvage whatever that is left as our client’s professional bragging right, our client had to work days after days and hours unending to retool and recapture the control of the platform, a feat that became possible after numerous failures on it. There and then our client overhauled and reconfigured the online platform and made it inaccessible to Mr Jesam and his goons of hackers. Mr Jesam had no choice than to retrace his steps and make recourse to our client deploying their mutual friends to talk to our client for a truce.”
Abayomi stated that Jesam proposed a meeting to resolve the issue but he was warned by someone close to Jesam about a plan to poison him. Consequently, Abayomi avoided the meeting and immediately left the area.
The petition reads, “To this end, a meeting was called by Mr Jesam to hold at Ibis International Hotel at Ikeja, our client arrived at the venue ahead of the scheduled time, Mr Jesam came afterwards and informed him that some other people are joining them at the meeting, fortunately before the meeting started one of Mr Jesam’s ally managed to give our client a snippet that no matter how careful and conscious of his environment he was at that meeting, all arrangements has been put in place to poison him and that is best option is to find a way to flee from the venue of the meeting.
“This very snippet our client took and quickly made out his way off the hotel venue. Sir, when it became manifestly clear to our client that the siege to completely eliminate him is still subsisting and palpable, he followed this action up by relocating back to England. On getting to England, our client took counsels with all his worthier and he came to the resolute decision to restore the platform to its initial settings before the avalanche of breaches, in order to enable Mr Jesam and his company, Afriq Arbitrage System Ltd to have unhindered access and control to the platform again.
“This our client made possible after calculating and withdrawing in monetary terms from the joint business ventures his own shares of the profit elements (which in total amount to the sum of $10.9 million USD) While unlocking the platform’s access for Mr Jesam and his company as at on the 22nd day of March, 2022 with a total money portfolio of the sum $780 million USD.”
The petition alleged that the police executed a biased job for Jesam after he initially attempted to involve the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The EFCC conducted its investigation and refused to be manipulated, according to the petition.
The petition reads, “It is on record. sir, that Mr Jesam initially did a petition against our client with the EFCC, wherein our client’s bank accounts were frozen by that law enforcement agency, in the course of investigation of the case, Mr Jesam and his team of lawyers got roughened and uncomfortable, so they abandoned the matter there and eventually shopped for the police to do a hatchet man’s job for them.
“Mr Jesam eventually got the Interpol section of the police on the case, the Interpol investigating team was headed by CSP Okechukwu Elegha, SP Uche and Inspector John Arikpo who were clearly biased, brutish and unprofessional in their handling of the case.
“Our client upon being arrested in his home in a gangster fashion, without any prior police invitation that was unheeded. Our client was served the complainant’s petition (i.e. Mr Jesam’s petition) wherein Mr Jesam stated that our client embezzled cum misappropriated his company’s funds to the tune of $782m USD, when the head of the legal team saw the petition, he instructed Mr Jesam’s lawyers to quickly withdraw and replace the petition with another one, because the initial petition might land Mr Jesam’s himself into a big problem.
“This was quickly done and all the statements made in response to this initial petition by our client was trashed and our client was made to start responding to the new petition.
“Everything that was done at the Interpol section was teleguided over by Mr Jesam’s lawyers. In the course of it all, our client was brutalized, dehumanized and at sundry times was tortured by the investigating team. Our client was made to write several so called “confessional statements” he was detained for well over two months without been charged to court.
“Upon our client’s solicitors’ success in getting an order of the court for the enforcement of his fundamental human right at the Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos, the police quickly rushed him to the Federal High Court, Abuja, before Justice Binta Nyako, who re-echoed that our client be allowed to enjoy bail and forthwith be returned to Lagos to face any charge the police might want to level against him.
“In a quick twist and turn by the police, the case was given to another section of the police, i.e. the SIU, the SIU on their own, came up from the blues that our client was financing terrorism, so our client was detained for further one month and weeks, this time he was put in a cell with terrorists suspects and other dangerous criminals, it was at this juncture that the resolute spirit to continue to fight and endure all the ill treatment and injustice meted against him by the police got broken down irretrievably. Our client became aptly ready to trade anything for his freedom and liberty.
“Sir, in summation our client was the one, howbeit involuntarily that reached out to the police to state their terms and conditions for his freedom. In no time the police got it all packaged the legal documents and deeds of transfer to divest him of all his earthly possession to Mr Jesam and by extension the police officers involved in the case.
“Our client’s properties in this could be divided into two main categories, the ones he acquired before he ever got to know and all meet Mr Jesam and the ones he acquired after they he got into joint business ventures with him.”
In his prayers, the petition filed by Abayomi’s lawyer asked the police authorities to “investigate all our client’s case and do what is expedient by the law”.
It also asked for the release of Abayomi’s passports and the lifting of “restriction on our clients NIN (National Identification Number) and lifting of PND on a Kuda bank account own by our client”.
It asked for the “granting of police character clearance to our client” and an “order to get Mr Jesam to bring down our client pictures affixed to negative news all over social media”.
Lastly, the petition called for the “release to our client all his properties illicitly transferred to Mr Jesam and monies extorted from him in the course of his ordeals in the hands of the police tagged as ‘plea bargaining.’”