Two years ago, the media was awash with stories on the gruesome murder of 25-year-old Cynthia Osokogu, daughter of a retired general, inside a hotel room in Amuwo Odofin local government area of Lagos State by friends she met on the facebook social network.
Today, some individuals still engage in using the social media to commit criminal activities. The latest is the arrest of a 32-year-old graduate of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Iweka Chigoziem Nnamdi, by policemen at Ajah Division, Lagos.
Penultimate week, in Saturday Vanguard, we published how the suspect, who allegedly posed as prominent Nigerians on the face book, used the medium to woo his unsuspecting victims, mostly women, through the offers of job and business opportunities.
When people applied, he would select only the females, married and single, and invite them to a hotel where the purported interview was scheduled. However he would identify himself as the agent or personal assistant to the prominent Nigerian that has the job and demand for sex , with a promise to facilitate the application.
But unknown to the victims, a hidden camera is activated once the ceiling fan is switched on, records all the fondling and sexual activities, at the end of which the suspect would blackmail them, with a threat to post their nude pictures and videos on the internet if his demand for money was not met.
He allegedly succeeded in blackmailing about 12 married women. The last straw was said to be an encounter with a 27-year-old female banker identified simply as Judith.
A close friend of the banker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, narrated the story: “ Judith is presently a shadow of her former self because of Nnamdi’s mischief. This is because she got information about her sex video on the internet from close friends.
She met the suspect who posed as Mike Adenuga on the internet and was convinced because of Adenuga’s photograph. They got chatting; at a point, she accepted an invitation to meet him in an hotel two months ago. But when she got there, she met Nnamdi who identified himself as Adenuga’s P.A and told Judith that she would have to go through him to see his boss.
One thing led to the other and she found herself in bed with him. But she got the shock of her life when Nnamdi called her on phone to pay some money into his account, threatening to post her sex video on the internet if she didn’t cooperate.
Judith called his bluff but was shocked when Nnamdi made good his threat by first posting photographs on the internet . Judith was yet to recover from the shock when Nnamdi went ahead to download the video of them making love on her facebook timeline. About 325 of Judith’s facebook friends watched the video.
“The video cost her, her five years relationship. After that, Nnamdi kept calling and threatening to post the second sex video on the internet if Judith did not pay him. It was at this point that she reported the case to policemen at Ajah who asked her to play along , in the process of which he was arrested”.
Laptops containing videos and pictures of different women were said to have been recovered by policemen during a search of the suspect’s apartment in Ikota Villa Estate, Ajah.
Police sources said about 12 victims contacted on phone revealed that they were married women, with some of them lamenting that the scandal destroyed their marriages.
One of them(names withheld), who spoke with operatives on phone when asked to come and testify,was quoted to have said: “ I do not care if he has been arrested, killed or alive because the harm has already been done. Can you imagine that scoundrel sent a video of me and him on bed to my husband? Today, I have been sent out of my matrimonial home. Of what use is my coming to testify? Will that restore my marriage?”
Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, who confirmed the suspect’s arrest, narrated: “The case was reported to the police on April, 20, 2014. The complainant alleged that the suspect chatted with her on the facebook for months until he invited her to hotel in Ajah, under the pretence that he was Mike Adenuga, the Chairman of Globacom.
When Nnamdi finally met with the victim on March, 14, 2014, he chatted with her and finally convinced the complainant to have sex with him. Unknown to her, the suspect had bugged the hotel room with camera. So while they were having sex, the entire action was being filmed.
“After this affair, the suspect started sending threatening text messages to her, demanding she pay various sums of money to him, otherwise he would send the nude pictures to her friends and colleagues at her office. He also sent a GTB bank account number into which she was to pay.
“After his arrest on April, 21, 2014, in an hotel at Ajah and following interrogation, police recovered the suspect’s laptop in which he had quite a number of sex pictures and videos of the complainant and also a host of other victims. He made a confessional statement to the effect that he did all that police recovered in his laptop, his BB and Techno phone.
On his laptop, police discovered that he had a list of prominent Nigerians such as Mike Adenuga; Pius Ayim Pius; Nwabara Adolphus; Van Vicker, a Ghanaian actor; and Joy Nnwedu, among others. He had been using these images and names to defraud unsuspecting Nigerians. In fact, he has broken marriages as confirmed by our investigations.”
The suspect, according to her, has been charged to court on an eight-count charge, informing that the case comes up tomorrow ( May 26) at Court 6, Tinubu, Lagos State.
According to the police spokesperson, the suspect was as “cool as cucumber” after he was arrested, smiling like he had not committed any crime.
