Muibat Adediran, a pensioner based in Ibadan, Oyo State, has narrated how she lost her gratuity and acres of land savings to Nosa Ohenhen, a man who presented himself as a travel agent and church philanthropist.
Speaking to FIJ, Adediran said Ohenhen collected N8.3 million from her under the pretext of securing travel documents and employment for her two sons in Mauritius in September 2024. More than seven months later, neither the job promises nor the trip has materialised.
Adediran said that she paid Ohenhen after her daughter, who works at the Redemption Camp, met him. She said after her daughter told him about the plan she wanted for her sons, Ohenhen assured her he could make that plan a reality, as he had helped many people, including members of their church.
According to the woman, Ohenhen convinced her daughter that her brothers would get jobs in Mauritius and begin earning money within a month of their arrival. Ohenhen’s assurance made Adediran trust
“The money he asked for was too much. I told my daughter, but she said he promised the boys would start making money immediately. When we didn’t have enough, he asked me to borrow. I ended up selling my land at distress prices and pouring my gratuity into the travel process,” Adediran told FIJ.
Despite paying the N8.3 million for visas, hotel reservations and flight tickets, Adediran said she never received any confirmed travel documents.
“He kept postponing their departure date. From September 28 which he promised till now, nothing has happened. He preferred talking to my daughter, not my sons. One of my other daughters called him once and he spoke arrogantly to her,” she said.
After pressure from the family, Ohenhen forwarded a travel itinerary. But when he didn’t send other documents by December, the family asked for a refund. Adediran said Ohenhen told her that although he had overspent, he would refund her, saying the money was chicken feed.
The family later discovered that Ohenhen was not based in the southwest as he had claimed. He was living in Benin, Edo State. To retrieve the money, they reported him to the Eleyele Police Station in Ibadan and later to Panti in Lagos.
At Panti, Adediran said, the officers promised to mobilise and track Ohenhen, but even after paying up to a million naira in follow-up costs, nothing came out of it.
Frustrated, one of Adediran’s sons called out Ohenhen on social media. Afterwards, the family received an invitation from the Alagbon Police Division in Lagos accusing the son of cyberbullying and defamation.
“My son told them he wasn’t around and would respond when he returned. One of the officers involved later admitted she didn’t know Ohenhen was guilty,” said Adediran.
In February, Ohenhen asked Adediran and her sons to meet him at the airport in Lagos. But after spending money on transport and arriving early, he failed to show up. She added that he asked them to show up at the airport in Lagos several times which they did, but he never showed up.
Once, Adediran said, Ohenhen sent a ticket indicating they were to travel the following day, but the family found that the ticket only covered a five-day stay in Mauritius, with a return flight already scheduled.
“We didn’t want to be stranded in a foreign land. That was when we realised we had been scammed. And all we have been requesting since then has been our money, but he hasn’t sent it. While I paid him N8.3 million, the total amount I spent in this pursuit is N10 million, and I want it back,” she said.
FIJ made several attempts to reach Nosa Ohenhen, but his known phone numbers were switched off or unanswered. FIJ sent him a text message on May 1, but he had not responded at press time.