One of the criterions to get the job was for the girls to come to a particular hotel around Adeniji Adele area with N5000. They were also expected to hand over their Black Berry phones to Femi, so that he would ‘upload the password’ which would facilitate their entrance into the Oriental hotel at Victoria Island. Once the girls hand over the phones, Femi would disappear. As if collecting their money and phone was not enough, Femi used to convince them to have sex with him.
Detectives discovered that Femi would not have been getting away with this game for long, if not because he uses a female voice, while speaking with the girls on the phone to fool them. He had also severally gotten away with the crime until nemesis caught up with him because the victims thought they were speaking with their female friends on the phone, unaware that they were speaking with a total male stranger.
Detectives believe that Femi had duped hundreds of girls, if not thousands, but the suspect insisted that he had barely used the scam for three days before his arrest. Femi was arrested after one of the victims, Fatima, played the same trick on him.
Narrating how he started the scam that landed him in police net, Femi said: “I used to go to a particular cybercafé at our area at Glover Street. There’s this particular guy who used to come there. His name is Telemi. He used to see me on webcam, chatting with white people. I am into yahooyahoo. I used to send pictures of white man or lady to someone I wanted to dupe overseas. Once the person sends his contact, I would call the person, using my female voice.
“It was Telemi who brought a phone number and called the number. It was the number of a girl called Kausarat. Telemi said he met the girl at a club and had tried to woo her. He said the girl proved difficult. He told me that the girl was a prostitute, who preferred to date old men who are rich. He even called the girl in my presence. It was the girl who gave us the phone number of Okiki.”
Incidentally, Okiki was the first victim among the present set of girls who were duped. According to Okiki, she got to hear about the usher job from her friend Kausarat. Kausarat pinged Okiki on her BB, telling her about the usher job at Oriental hotel, which would fetch each of the usher N50, 000. Okiki had later called, asking Kausarat to explain further about the job, unaware that she was speaking with a male, who had her friend’s BB.
Okiki said: “He used Kausarat’s line to call me. I didn’t know I was speaking with Femi. The voice said that the usher job would pay N50, 000 per day. He said we should come with N5000 to Adeniji, to a hotel, where we would be measured for the gown which we would use for the occasion.”
Okiki didn’t want to keep the good fortune to herself; she had quickly hinted another friend of hers, who also expressed interest. Both girls raced to the hotel at Adeniji Adele. Okiki also called another friend, Bisola, who said she wouldn’t be able to make it since she was going to school. Feeling magnanimous however, Bisola alerted her friend Fatima. And the circle kept expanding as more girls continued to show interest, including girls residing in Ogbomosho area of Oyo State.
Those in Ogbomosho quickly bought bus tickets and started for Lagos. By the time the scam was uncovered, some girls were already at Obalende bus stop. Femi said he used to pretend to be three persons; the friend of the victims, the supposed madam who was hiring the girls and the errand boy to ‘the madam’. He would tell the victims to wait for him at Obalende bus stop, which was closer to Adeniji Adele and would go there to pick them.
Once Femi gets to Obalende bus stop, he would call the victim, telling her that the ‘madam’s’ errand boy was coming to pick her. That the friend would be waiting at the hotel, with other girls. As he was calling, he would be watching for any lady who frequently picked her calls, whenever he called. It was through that means that he used to identify the girls. Once he had lodged them at the hotel, he would step out of the room, dial their number and using the voice of another female, would pretend to be the madam hiring the girls.
Okiki said: “He collected the N5000 from me and lodged us in room 202. As soon as Femi stepped out of the hotel room, Kausarat called. She wanted to know if we were at the hotel, I said yes, but all along, it was Femi calling me. After Kausarat finished calling, Femi came into the room from outside. He also stepped out again and called, pretending to be the madam. He introduced himself as the woman who was the owner of the job. I was at the office when they called me for the usher job. I went with my friend.
We had both being paid our salary on that day. It was N25, 000. I put my money and my friend’s into my purse. He said he wanted to take my BB to the engineer who would upload the pass which we would use to enter the Oriental hotel. We didn’t even know when he took the purse. He disappeared with the purse containing our N50, 000 and my BB.
“When he didn’t come back, we became frantic. I used my friend’s phone to call him (my phone). He picked and didn’t deny collecting the purse. He said we should come to a certain plaza. We rushed down there, but we didn’t see him. There was no money with us. We begged money to take fare back home. Later I discovered that he had used my phone to call some of my friends, pretending to be me. He was also telling them about the usher work. Some of them came to my house, saying they didn’t understand what I was saying. They needed further explanations. I told them that I was not the person calling them.”
Femi said: “I lodged Okiki and her friend at Silver ray hotel at Enowa Street, Adeniji. I told her that she needed a pass into the Oriental hotel. I told her that I needed her phone to go and upload the pass into it. She gave me her phone and I left. The following day, she started calling me (her line) but I refused to pick.” Fatima said that when she heard about the usher work, she knew it was too fantastic to be true. But Bisola convinced her that her friend Okiki had never been known to lie.
Thus Bisola gave Fatima Okiki’s number. And when Fatima called Okiki, asking about the job, it was Femi who picked, pretending to be Okiki. Fatima did not have the amount of money Femi was asking her to bring, but she borrowed, believing she would pay back after she collected her N50, 000.
Fatima said: “I was with Bisola on that fateful day when Okiki called, telling her about the usher work at Oriental hotel. He said it was going to be a red carpet affair and that Lagbaja was going to play. The gown for the usher was going to be gold colour, with red shoes. Femi said he was the errand boy to the madam. He lodged me and stepped out of the room. Few minutes after he left the room, the madam called me. She said I should relax and have no fear that she was in Abuja. She said that her plane would be landing the next day by 10: am, that I should loan whatever money her errand boy wanted, that she would triple the refund.
“She said she was married to a white man and has two kids, one of them a girl, whom she wouldn’t want anyone to defraud for any reason and as such; she was not into such nonsense. She reassured me because she knew I was having doubts. She told me to get ready, that some people would be coming to give me a facial scrub and nail polish.
“Before I connected with Femi, I had been speaking with Okiki, unaware it was the same Femi. The instruction was to come to where I would be picked by 9pm. When I got to the bus stop, Okiki called, saying that the madam’s errand boy would be coming to pick me. I noticed that as I was receiving the call, a guy walked passed me. I was worried about the money with me. It was over N20, 000 and I borrowed it. I didn’t want to lose it to criminals. Suddenly the guy, who walked pass, came back, saying he was from Okiki. He told me that there were three of them who worked for the madam. There were two girls and him. His tattered appearance bothered me. I wondered how a madam who could pay N50, 000 per day was not able to take care of his errand boy.
“When we got to the hotel, I wanted to see Okiki, but he said I should hold on. He collected N5000 from me. He said the money was to put ‘a pass’, into my phone, so that I would be able to enter Oriental. He said there were other girls for the usher work, lodging in the hotel.
“When the madam called that I should loan his errand boy some money, that she would triple the payment, I handed him the N20, 000 with me. I didn’t know the madam was Femi. He said he was going to the engineer who would upload the pass and left. At about 7am, a friend called my Nokia line, asking if I had seen the phone numbers of other girls I asked for, who wanted to join in the usher job. Immediately I knew it was a scam! Femi didn’t know that I had another phone with me.
“I rushed to the receptionist of the hotel; I asked if there were other girls in the hotel who came for usher work. He said no. The way Femi played us showed that he had been doing this scam for long.”
With a heart filled with despair, Fatima made her way home. She thought for long, how to get back her money and phone, then she hit upon an idea.
Recalling how she executed the plan to nail Femi, Fatima, 24, who happened to be the oldest amongst all the victims, said: “I realized that he was doing this for money. I used my friend, Shade’s phone and called my BB. I knew he was with my phone and that he would pick. I wrapped a handkerchief around the mouth piece of the phone to disguise my voice. I pretended I was Shade, talking to Fatima, myself. I said ‘Fatima want’s up’. Why do want us to miss the money.”
Immediately Femi heard about money, he pretended to be Fatima and told ‘Shade’ about the usher work. He also told ‘Shade’ the hotel to meet him.
Fatima and Shade contacted a male friend residing at Adeniji Adele area, who took them to police station to lodge the complaint.
Since Femi already knew Fatima, it was agreed that Shade should go to the hotel to meet him.
Femi played all his cards as usual, including calling Shade, pretending to be the unseen madam at Abuja. When he least expected it however, Shade got up from the bed, locked the door and dialled Fatima’s Nokia number. She said: “Fatima come, I have caught the fool!”
Policemen who followed the girls to the hotel and were in mufti came to the room to whisk Femi to the station. Fatima said she did not blame Femi for exploiting his victims’ desperation to make money. She added: “We should not be carried away by materialism. It was the money that spurred us on. What about if the guy had been a ritualist? He could have killed us at the hotel. If police had not arrested him, he would have graduated into a ritualist.”
Femi told Daily Newswatch that he was orphaned and brought up by a childless couple called the Sarumis’. He said his father died when he was just three months and his mother had disappeared since then.
After his secondary school education at Yemkem International School, he had tried to gain admission into one of the higher institutions in Nigeria, but failed.
He decided to attend LASPOTECH part time. Every month, Femi, who now stays with his paternal grandmother, will go to his foster parents to collect money. He uses this money for yahooyahoo.
The monthly money became inadequate and he had to join a cleaning company. He said that if his foster parents found out that he was working, they would be mad with him. Femi who speaks fluent English, but could not write a complete good sentence, called his foster mother, an immigration officer, begging her to come and get him out of the police station. He however failed to tell the crime he had committed.
Crying in a broken voice, he said: “Mummy! Mummy! Mummy, please come and get me out of this place! I know I messed up. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It will never happen again!” He however was too scared to call his foster father, who has a manufacturing company in Lagos. Confessing frankly that he was addicted to the yahooyahoo business, Femi said that he learnt the dirty business from his school father at the Yemkem boarding school he attended.
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