- Victims seek EFCC intervention
At least two persons have reportedly died following a failed investment scheme in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Reports said that several other people have been hospitalised as a result of the failed investment scheme.
Subscribers of the scheme christened “Agape Trade and Agape Thrift,” made these disclosures during a press conference held in Ibadan on Wednesday.
Spokesperson of the subscribers, Mr. Abiodun Ayobami Mustafa, addressed journalists on the issue.
He said more 950 people invested in the scheme founded by a certain Mr. Enoch Adeoye.
Mustafa, who said that the scheme started in Ibadan in January 2024, noted that all efforts made by the subscribers to get returns on their contributions have not been successful since last year.
He disclosed that two persons died while several others have been hospitalised arising their failure to get returns on their investments.
He added that several of such investors have been traumatised and have suffered humiliation due to the failure of the founder of the scheme to pay them as expected.
Mustafa further disclosed that the subscribers have written a petition to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, urging the agency to wade in.
He used the opportunity to appeal to EFCC to investigate the matter.
Mustafa said: “We have 950 members who subscribed into this scheme. Many of us are in Ibadan. Here, we have representatives of various subgroups. Members are scattered all over Nigeria. We have been waiting for more than one year to get our return on investment. He paid us during the first three months, but he stopped after the first three months.
“So, all efforts for get returns on our investment since then have proved to be abortive. So, it was after this occurrence that we gathered ourselves together to have this press conference.
“The hallmark of the establishment of the EFCC was against the background of the culture of financial crimes which pervades our society. It has affected the fabric of the society, snowballed into debilitating moral decadence, which affects innocent Nigerians within the civilian populace-and all other institutions.
“In light of this petition, it is our candid opinion and respectful submission to you sir, that these despicable acts of the suspect on our clients are not only illegal and unlawful but amount to criminality to which the extant laws of the land frowns at and to which your good office is saddled with the constitutional duty to apprehend, investigate and prosecute if found culpable.
“We know that your office has the power to investigate this petition. We are lodging this petition with your office.”