Michael HundeyinBeing scammed of N10.5 million was the last thing on the mind of Aki John (real name withheld), a Kaduna-based football agent, when he met Lord Enow Abia in 2022.
It was Patrick Attah, one of his colleagues in the football business, who linked him to Abia, a Nigerian-based Cameroonian supposedly “well connected with football clubs and agents abroad”. Given that John and his colleague had had successful business deals prior to that time, he never thought anything could go wrong.
“As a football agent, if my contact asks me to bring players, I could reach out to someone like Patrick to know if he has players he can bring along for a tournament. If his contact also needs players, he can reach out to me for players in the same manner,” John told EQ in August.
Lord Enow Abia
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“When Patrick called to tell me about Abia in June 2022, I asked him how well he knew this guy, and he said very well. He said the guy had his house near his football training pitch at Kubwa and he had been to his office at Wuse (Abuja). He also said he had met some football players that the guy brought from Cote de Voire to secure Serbian visas for them.
“With this explanation, and being my colleague, I had no cause to doubt him because it seemed he had done due diligence in checking the guy. That was how I met Lord Enow Abia.”
The Cameroonian was supposed to help six footballers in John’s team secure visas for a tournament in Serbia in December 2022. John said he paid N10.5 million to Abia for the visas as well as tournament fees and flight tickets.
Some of the payment made to Enow Abia Lord
Some of the payment made to Enow Abia Lord
Some of the payment made to Enow Abia Lord
EQ learnt that Abia would send WhatsApp messages and voice notes “from a white man in Serbia” and payment receipts purportedly from the Serbian Embassy, but, unknown to John, all of these were fake.
“The journey was supposed to take place on December 15, 2022, and I had made full payment. He brought fake Serbian visas. On December 14, he sent flight ticket bookings, and his phone went off mysteriously that same day. He was incommunicado,” John told EQ.
“Then I called my colleague who introduced us because he too had players who were to travel for the tournament. He said maybe his phone was faulty. We were all frantically trying to reach Lord Enow Abia to no avail. Just like me, my colleague was also duped by this same man though the money he lost was not as much as mine because he only had two players.
“Apart from the visas that were fake, the flight bookings can be done by anyone online. They were only bookings and not confirmations. He was supposed to confirm the tickets the next day, just before departure. That was when he absconded.
“I learnt that he left Nigeria for Cameroon on the night of December 14, 2022, and that he had a Nigerian passport.”
Screenshots of WhatsApp conversations obtained by EQ show that Abia sent apology texts to John in on December 20, 2022, and January 7, 2023, with promises that he would refund the money within five months. He did not refund a dime!
WhatsApp apology
WhatsApp apology
“His communication link went offline but, sometime in 2023, I noticed he came online intermittently. I was able to get his attention on June 13. When I called him on WhatsApp, he answered. He told me he could return my money even times two, but I had to bring clients he could give fake Schengen visas,” John said.
“At some point, when I told him that I would see to it that his passport was cancelled if he failed to refund my money, he bragged and said I should do my worst.”
EQ knows that John initiated a petition against the Cameroonian at Kakuri Area Police Command in Kaduna.
“Apart from getting a valid court order to block the accounts and the police going to Abuja to arrest my colleague, Patrick Attah and Coach Wilson, who introduced Abia to my colleague, nothing came of the investigation,” he said.
John also petitioned the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in March and July 2023, and he provided police petitions, court documents, and financial transactions, to cancel Abia’s passport. He knows of no definite step taken to find and make Abia face the wrath of the law.
The NIS told John that the matter had been referred to its legal department and an investigation had later been conducted with the report sent to the Head of Immigration Service.
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March 2023 petition to NIS
March 2023 petition to NIS
July 2023 petition to NIS
“When I went to Nigeria Immigration Service, I gave them all the details but the officials were asking for financial gratification to do their job,” John said.
It has been almost two years since Abia’s whereabouts have been unknown to John, who is still awaiting the refund of N10.5 million.
“That episode destroyed my reputation as a football agent and dragged me down. I closed down my football Academy. I am still paying the players to date,” he revealed.
EQ sent a WhatsApp message to Abia on Monday because phone calls to his phone number did not connect. He did not respond.
An email was equally sent to the NIS on Tuesday, but EQ got no response at press time.
The post How Cameroonian Lord Enow Abia Scammed Nigerian Football Agent of N10.5m appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.
