Police accuse teacher of defrauding lecturer of N6m

Oboba

Controversy has continued to surround the case, where a secondary school teacher, Mr. Ugochukwu Erastus Oboba, was accused by the police of withdrawing N6million from the account of Mr. Nwachukwu Ekwueme Innocent, a lecturer at Abia State Polytechnic, Aba.

The Abia State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Leye Oyebade said that Oboba, 40, conspired with others now at large to commit the crime.

Oboba has denied the allegation, claiming that he was a victim of circumstance. He said that he was framed by his co-worker, Mrs. Eziulo Irokwe, who happened to be wife to the lecturer. While police insisted that the missing money was N6 million, Oboba said it was just N400, 000.

Although police have alleged Oboba of fraud, but how he committed it, is still unclear. The situation is even more obscure as police did not present Irokwe and the lecturer to journalists for questions.

Leye tried to explain how the suspect carried out the crime. He said: “The suspect committed the crime by blocking the MTN SIM card of the lecturer, thereby preventing him from receiving calls, SMS as well as bank transaction alerts. The intelligence-led policing strategy of the police paid off on November10, when operatives attached to the Central Police Station Aba arrested Oboba. The suspect did a ‘welcome back’ of the lecturer’s phone number; thereby accessing relevant information, with which he assessed the account of his victim online. He withdrew the sum of N6 million from the lecturer’s GTBank account. The suspect transferred N400, 000.00 to his Access Bank account.”

The police are working on the theory that Oboba committed the crime with Irokwe, who is a fellow teacher, at Glossy Focus Gem School, Aguda, Surulere Lagos.

Oboba, however, angrily denied the allegation. He said that Irokwe, rather than being a member of his gang as alleged by the police, was actually the mastermind of his travail.

He insisted he didn’t defraud anyone. He said that he was a victim of the web, woven by Irokwe. He said that Irokwe repaid his kindness to her with evil.

Even as the suspect tried to explain how the crime was carried out, so many holes appeared in his story.

Oboba recalled: “I’m a teacher and work with Irokwe in the same school. Irokwe became a very good friend of mine. As colleagues, we used to do contributions in the school. I was to receive N100, 000 at the end of the month. She approached me that she had been given notice, to quit her shop. She said court ordered her to vacate the shop. She begged me to loan her money. She needed to move to another shop and the place needed to be renovated. I lent her N180, 000.

“I asked her how she was going to reimburse me, she said soon. She said that her brother, living overseas, would send her some money. She used to call this brother of hers in my presence. She said I should give her my account number so that her brother would pay money into it. She said her account had issues.”

According to the suspect, he was so close to Irokwe that he gave her his account number without thinking twice. He also gave her his ATM card to enable her withdrew the money when it eventually comes.

He said he was shocked that rather than pay his money after using his account for the transaction, Irokwe turned around to allege that Oboba withdrew money from her husband’s account.

Oboba explained that on October 1, 2016, he received a bank alert, indicating that someone was withdrawing money from his account.

Before the withdrawal, he claimed to have received credit alert of N400, 000.  According to him, he believed the money was from Irokwe’s brother.

He said: “I called Irokwe; she said it was the money her brother sent. Later, I called and asked her why she didn’t leave the money I lent her in the account, she said she was coming to the school. She said she would give me the money at school. I told her to bring the money and my ATM card.”

Oboba continued: “I was arrested on October 17 and brought to Abia State Police Command. I told them that I never had any intention of defrauding anyone. My intention in giving my ATM card and Personal Identification Number (PIN) to Irokwe was just because I wanted to assist her.”

On the allegation that he withdrew N6million from the account of Nwachukwu, he denied it, stressing that it was N400, 000 credit alerts that he saw on his phone.