Just
while Nigerians were still grappling with the shock of the crashed
Ponzi scheme, MMM, operators of another of the scheme which surfaced in
Makurdi have been nabbed by the Benue State Police Command.
Suspects accused of money doubling in Benue State
The gallant operatives of the Benue State Police Command have
arrested a software engineer identified as Dr. Philemon Ibrahim Gura and
two others (Tivkaa Shimavie and their driver, Kenneth Atuwaka) over
allegation of doubling money for members of the public.
According to DailyTrust, the suspected criminals were apprehended
by the police at the premises of St. Theresa Catholic Church, High Level
in Makurdi on suspicion that they were carrying out fraudulent
activities.
Speaking while he paraded the suspects before newsmen at the
command headquarters in Makurdi, the Benue State Commissioner of Police,
Bashir Makama, said the suspects had already collected over N4.5
million from a total of 613 people within two days of their operation.
Makama also said out of the amount collected from the unsuspecting
public, the cash sum of N2.1 million was recovered from the suspects at
the point of their arrest, accusing them of hiding under an empowerment
programme to defraud people.
One of the victims, a 22-year-old Aondo Shadrack, said that the
large crowd that besieged the police headquarters along Ogiri Oko road
in Makurdi following the apprehension of the suspects, said he invested
N10,000.
“A friend had called me that some people were giving out 100
percent interest on any money given to them under 24 hours at St.
Theresa Church, so I went there on Thursday to see things for myself. I
discovered that they had started operations the previous day which was
Wednesday and were already paying those people who gave them money
earlier.
“I was impressed by what I saw. I observed that those who gave
them N4, 000 were paid N8, 000 and the same rule applied to whatever
amount one drops in their hands. Since people were getting double of the
amount invested, I then decided to give them N10, 000 so I could
collect N20, 000 the following day but I never did as the police later
arrested the men behind the scheme,” Shadrack narrated.
Another victim, a food vendor and mother of three, Nlumun Bagu,
said she keyed into the programme on the first day because it was
announced in the church that some people were around to empower the
youths and less privileged.
Bagu said on the first day, she had given the operators of the
scheme under the name, Global Funds International, N4, 000 which was
doubled for her the following day when she got paid N8, 000, an amount
she reinvested before the police swoop on the men.
However, the suspects have claimed that they were carrying out a
legitimate business within the confines of law and had not in any way
derailed to warrant the alleged police harassment.
Gura, who admitted that he was the brain behind the Global Fund
International based in the United States, affirmed that he was only
doing ‘God’s Work’ by empowering people around the states of the
federation.
“I’m not a criminal and don’t need to be a criminal. I only
need access to my fund to pay all the people at once. I have a wife and
three children and I’m based in US. All my companies are registered,
Global Fund too is registered but the police are just frustrating me.
“Since the EFCC and police freeze my account, I decided to
develop another software since I’m a software engineer and that was how
Global Fund came into existence, I have credited over 500, 000
Nigerians,” he said.
On his part, the driver, Atuwaka, 29, said he was a graduate and
taxi operator in Abuja and was chartered by the duo of Gura and Shimave
who taught him in school during their days as youth corps members in
Cross River State.
He said: “One of them had called me to bring them to Makurdi.
They chartered while doing my legitimate business and I didn’t know the
kind of business they were into until they started the operation. I even
put in my N14, 000 and have not been paid before the arrest."
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