OSOGBO, Nigeria — The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Osun State Command, has apprehended Abdulgafar Ayanrinde, a 25-year-old man posing as a lawyer.
The imposter stands accused of defrauding Point Of Sale, POS, agents and commercial drivers within court premises in Osun and Ekiti States.
Sunday Agboola, the Osun NSCDC Commandant, disclosed the details of Ayanrinde’s arrest during a press briefing on Saturday, May 27, 2023.
According to Agboola, Ayanrinde was taken into custody in Ilorin, Kwara State, following an intelligence operation triggered by public complaints.
“Abdulgafar allegedly defrauded a driver who he had hired on May 23, 2023,” Agboola said.
“The driver took him to Osogbo State High Court, Osun State, and Akure Federal Court, Ondo State, where he purportedly swindled PoS agents out of N150,000 before returning to Ilorin.”
The arrestee’s fraudulent activities did not end there, according to the Commandant. “The faux lawyer defrauded another driver who took him to Ilorin for the sum of N100,000, after which he was arrested.”
Upon his arrest, Ayanrinde confessed to his crimes, revealing his backstory as a University of Ibadan Law Faculty dropout.
“I dropped out of the University of Ibadan (UI) from the law department in 2022 when I could no longer pay school fees,” Ayanrinde said.
Ayanrinde blamed his father, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), for his turn to criminal activities.
“I decided to start practicing as a fake lawyer to swindle people in courts because my father decided to neglect myself and my mother after he impregnated her.”
With bitterness lacing his voice, Ayanrinde expressed remorse for his actions, but laid the blame at his father’s doorstep.
“I do this crime to spite him. I regret my action, my father is the one that destroyed my life. He denied me as his son and never took responsibility for me.”
The NSCDC has promised that justice will be duly served as the case is forwarded for prosecution.
