19-year-old student arrested for cloning Tinubu’s Facebook account and duping job seekers

The police in Lagos have arrested a 19-year-old polytechnic student, Emmauel Eto, for allegedly operating a fake Facebook account of a former Governor of Lagos State and the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu.

Eto was arrested on Saturday, May 9, by operatives of the State Intelligence Bureau of the Lagos State Police Command.

The police said the suspect was apprehended following a complaint made by one Idowu Adeyemi that an unknown person, impersonating as Tinubu, created a Facebook account in same name, and swindled some job seekers.

It was gathered that Eto allegedly told members of the public, through the fake Facebook account, that there were available employment opportunities in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and other government agencies.

He also allegedly requested that interested applicants should pay the sum of N26,850, which was employment and processing charges.

The police said the items recovered from the suspect were six SIM cards, 13 empty SIM card packs, six photographs of a white man, and one I-pad.

Speaking with Punch Metro on Wednesday, Eto, who hails from Oleh in the Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, said it was another student in the polytechnic who trained him.

He said, “I am studying Mechanical Engineering at the polytechnic. I am in my second year. This whole thing started in January 2015. It was a colleague, Kelvin, who gave me the idea. I don’t know Tinubu and have not met him. My friend gave me the idea, and it actually worked because three job seekers paid money into my bank account.

“I also have phone numbers from the United Kingdom and the United States of America which I used to communicate with victims. It is just three persons I have duped so far.”

The Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti, said the command would not fail to bring all criminally minded persons to justice.

He said, “The command will not rest on its oars to ensure that any crime committed is punished and the offenders apprehended. The suspect, who posed as a prominent Nigerian on the Facebook and other social media platforms, has confessed to the crime and investigation is ongoing.”

Credit: Olaleye Aluko/Punch Metro