*USE SCAM TO SPONSOR HIS FOUR KIDS THROUGH UNIVERSITY
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 64-year-old man who
confessed to have been using a fake Certificate of Occupancy(C of O)
for over 10 years to bail suspected criminals.
The suspect, Agu Ebere, further confessed that he had severally bailed
suspects from police detention and from the law courts. He had even
been interviewed by several magistrates to know if he was trust worthy
as a surety and had always came out from such interviews in flying
colours.
As if the confession that he had fooled several policemen and
magistrates was not shocking enough, Ebere boasted that he had even
taken bail and stood surety for many politicians and influential
people in the society. He charges between N50, 000 to N100, 000
depending on the case.
The suspect claimed that he get most of his clients from lawyers. He
said: “We operate in the whole courts in Lagos. Lawyers don’t and
can’t take bail or stand as surety, so they come to people like us.”
Ebere was arrested after he went to the state police command
headquarters, X-Squad section, to take the bail of a retired navy
captain who defrauded someone to the tune of N40 million.
One of the conditions given to the captain, Mr.Onabo, was to get a
surety with a landed property here in Lagos State.
When Ebere presented the C of O certificate to the Officer in charge
of X-Squad, the police boss had felt something was not right with the
certificate and had ordered his men to investigate the certificate.
The investigation, which saw them paying a visit to the Alausa
secretariat, showed that the C of O was a fake.
Police spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, said: “A retired captain was
arrested for defrauding someone N40 million. He was granted bail under
the condition that he should get a reliable surety with a landed
property in Lagos State. Agu Ebere came to take the captain’s bail
with a fake C/O certificate. The Officer in charge of X-Squad
suspected the certificate and carried out a further investigation it.
It turned out the certificate was a fake!”
According to Ebere, he took to the crime because he had so many bills
to pay. Though he has a registered buying and supplying company, it
however was not yielding money, he said.
He revealed that through bailing suspects and standing as surety to
suspects, he had been able to sponsor five of his children through the
university.
He added: “In fact, I have five kids, but four have already graduated.
The last one is still an undergraduate. Yes, my wife and kids know I’m
into this sort of business and had asked me to stop it, but I keep
going back to the crime because I had pay house rent and provide food.
The bills just keep coming.”
The suspect said that he paid N60, 000 to the man who perfected the
fake C/O for him. He added that the man, who was a staff at Alausa
Secretariat, Ikeja, was late now. The C/O was prepared in 2000 and he
had been using it since then.
The C/O showed that Ebere, who lives at Green land Estate, Idimu, has
a landed property located at 29, Alhaja Bello Street, off Pipeline,
Idimu, Alimosho Local Government Area, Lagos State, area
521.651.SQMIS.
Initially Ebere snarled: “What is wrong with forging of certificate of
C/O? After all, people forged papers used to go and carry oil in
Abuja!”
But when asked if he did not care how his family would react over the
fact that he had been held for fraud, he said: “It had happened, it
had happened! There’s nothing I can do about it.”
Attempting to show that he was not altogether a bad guy, Ebere said
that he used to do a genuine business of registering cars for people.
He also used to assist car owners to do what he described as “change
of ownership of cars.”
Braide who advised members of the public, including banks to be
careful and check out C/O presented to them, added: “The suspect would
be charged for forgery.”
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