The Lagos State Police Command two days
ago arrested a 19-year-old girl who posed
as music star, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, aka
Wizkid, on social media and defrauded many
people of over $65,000, equivalent of
about N12.9million.
Fresh facts have emerged of the lady's
identity, how the young lady operated and
how she was exactly caught.
This is following a recent scandal where a
show promoting agency, Humble
Entertainment, openly blasted Wizkid for
failing to perform at its event despite being
paid.
In a statement, the company claimed that,
‘despite going through all the necessary
requirements to book Wizkid which included
signing a contract and paying the required
fee, we have been let down
by the booking/management parties’.
Wizkid is represented in Nigeria by Sunday
Are‘s ‘List Entertainment’ while his
management in UK is Disturbing London led
by Tinie Tempah.
Sunday Are denied knowledge of the show
while Wizkid kept mum on the issue as well.
Instead, he is said to have complained to
the police commissioner that someone had
been impersonating him and collecting money
for shows.
The police swung into action and the 19-
year-old suspect, identified as Ifeoma
Nelly was arrested. She is said to be a
student of Industrial Chemistry at the
Delta State University. She was arrested
through the combined efforts of Wizkid’s
Manager, Mr. Sunday Are, policemen from
Lagos and an Australian when she came to
Lagos to collect part payment of $25,000
from some Australians at a hotel in Lagos,
so that Wizkid would go to Australia to
perform.
The suspect was said to use to collect
payment via electronic, but because she was
desperate to get her hands on the $25,000,
she decided to this time, meet the
Australian one on one. She reportedly came
in company of two friends, a lady and a
guy. Unknown to her, policemen had been
planted in the hotel. So, when she walked
into the hotel with her friends, thinking she
was on the verge of meeting the Australian
and sailing away $25,000, she walked into
the waiting arms of policemen and Are.
Revealing how the suspect was arrested, Are
said the lady said she had been posing on
Facebook and defrauding people for three
years, using Wizkid. When asked if she had
other members assisting her, Nelly insisted
that she was the only one running the show.
Are said:
“She has collected money from different
people. If you don’t have evidence against
her, she would deny it. But if you show her
evidence, she would tell you the truth.
There was the case of the $53,000, which
we had to refund to the owner.
She confirmed that she was the one who
collected it. There was another payment of
$12,500 from Germany. The Germany
people sent details of how they paid the
money to her. She couldn’t deny it.”
Are said they had to start refunding money
to different victims when the nefarious
activities of the suspect became
embarrassing.
The manager said:
“We had been having problems with
different clients because of this. We keep
refunding all the money. It was an issue.
When it became serious, we had to refund
the money to victims. Some people will just
go, write in papers that Wikzid
disappointed them. They would say Wizkid
and his manager collected money and didn’t
come to perform.
Meanwhile, we didn’t know about those
shows.”
Are added that the lady, not only used
Wizkid’s name to open the Facebook
accounts, but also used Wizkid’s name to
register the phone she was using.
“Whenever someone calls her or she calls
someone, its Wizkid’s name that would
show.
True caller shows Wizkid. We need
everybody to help us fight this. We’ve s t a
r t e d working towards d o i n g s o m e – t
h i n g a b o u t t h e fake accounts.”
Recounting how she was arrested, Are said
he and Wizkid went to Zambia for a show.
They were there when he received a call
from some people in Australia. The caller
said he wanted to know if he was speaking
with Sunday Are, Wizkid’s manager. The
Australian said that he had been speaking
with someone, pretending to be Are.
The Australian said that he had almost
concluded negotiation for Wizkid to come to
Australia to perform and was just about to
pay $25,000 part payment, when he heard
that Wizkid was in Zambia. The Australian
said it was quite unlikely for Wizkid to be
in Zambia, while his manager would be in
Lagos. The Australian sourced Are’s phone
number and called; the real Are picked.
Are said:
“They said someone wanted to collect money
from them in Lagos, Nigeria, for Wizkid to
come and perform. They now found out that
I was in Zambia. They now wondered how
possible it was for Wizkid’s manager to be
in Zambia, while Wizkid was in Lagos. They
managed to get my number and called me.
I planned with them on how to make this
arrest. I talked to them to convince the
suspect to come and collect cash in a hotel
in Lagos. That was how I managed to arrest
her. “She came along with two friends.
They were two ladies and a guy. She looked
like a guy.
It took us three to four hours before we
could believe she was a lady. She wore
native clothes and spotted low cut, like she
is Sunday Are. She wore Rolex wrist watch.
She bought clothes for the lady that came
with her because that one said she didn’t
have any clothes good enough to wear to
come and collect the money. “The arrest
happened in a hotel in Lagos.
I planted policemen inside the hotel room.
The people gave the lady an Australian
number, saying the Australian didn’t have a
Nigerian number. Everything looked genuine.
The show was to be in Australia, the phone
number was an Australian number and the
man she was speaking with, was a white
man. But the man was actually in
Australia, directing them to come to the
hotel to collect cash. They entered the room
and we arrested them.”
Wizkid is pictured below with his manager
Sunday Are
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