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| Babajide...alleged hexagenarian fraudster |
This is not a tale by the moonlight or
another Nollywood box office; it is a story of an elderly man that has
reportedly perfected the act of duping unsuspecting women on the pretext of marriage.
But it appears that the man is far from
being responsible in any way going by the details of his character and deceit
available to us.
The man, whose name was given as Babajide
Lawon Eniola we were told has had reasons to lose his valid American passport
over his pathological lies which among others include laying claims to
professions he never qualified for and had also lied to be Femi Otedola’s
business partner, all in a bid to scam unsuspecting victims.
He allegedly started from Nigeria, moved
to the United States of America from where he still spreads the tentacles of
his alleged dubious activities to other parts of the world including Nigeria.
This office was privileged to meet with
a middle-aged woman, who said that she innocently fell victim of the ‘lies and
deceit ‘of 67-year-old Babajide Eniola.
Babajide reportedly came to Nigeria in
March 2017 for the purpose of concretising their relationship. They later got
married at the Yaba Marriage Registry in Lagos, Nigeria.
He reportedly left the woman much poorer
than he met her, and inflicted her with much scars that would make her regret
the ‘relationship’ for the rest of her life.
The woman, who simply gave her name as
Yewande, was obviously distraught as she narrated how she had expected Mr. Eniola
to help her relocate abroad so that she could start working and earning money
to ensure the completion of her children’s education as she has been a single
parent for over 20 years.
Yewande’s story is produced here just as
she narrated it to us:
“I was connected to Mr. Babajide Eniola
via one Ladi, a pharmacist in Maryland, USA. My relationship with 67-year-old
Mr. Eniola jump-started after several telephone calls and we began to discuss
further and he expressed his love for me in the process.
“We got talking and Mr. Eniola deceived
me that he was an architect and a divorcee. I told him I was a trader and a
single parent with two children. I informed him from the onset that I
needed to travel out of the country to enhance my financial status and make ends
meet as one of my children schools abroad.
“I told him that due to the recession in
Nigeria at that time things were very difficult for me and I realized that the
completion of my children’s education was at stake and that I had to
re-strategize. He subsequently told me that I should not worry that he would do
everything possible to assist me relocate to the United States of America as he
is a citizen of the country. He told me that he was a divorcee.
“I believed him because of some discussions
we had overtime in the cause of the relationship, and he used to pick my calls
anytime of the day; be it 2am or 3am, and I felt he was responsible and I had
no cause to doubt that he was a genuine divorcee as I called him on phone all
through the day and night.[
“Mr. Eniola told me that he had two
children from a white woman, who he had divorced, and he also professed his
love for me. Our relationship continued overtime such that I thought he was a
responsible and reliable man.
“I made him understand that I wanted to
work and earn money, and that I was even ready to work as a nanny to ensure the
completion of the education of my children. He informed me that he finished
from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US and that he was an
architect.
“In the cause of the relationship, I
told him that I didn’t mind to get a 10 year visa to the United Kingdom, but he
convinced me that America was better, he even spoke to my children on some
occasions, while I also spoke with his son on phone.
“At the end of the day, he informed me
that he would be coming to Nigeria and that he used to do some architectural
designs alongside Architect Ayo Assaf. He told me that he did architectural
works both in Nigeria and in the United States. He said he would come around to
marry me and that we would now use the marriage certificate to file for me at
the embassy.
“When I enquired about his family, he
told me that most of his brothers and sisters had died and that he was the last
child of his parents, but that he had an elder sister, who is a top prophetess
with the Cherubim and Seraphim, Ayo Ni O in Lagos.
“I was made to understand that the
husband of the prophetess used to be the Managing Director of a top company in
Lagos. He informed me that he had told the woman about me and that we would
visit her, when he comes around. He also told me that he and Architect Ayo
Assaf did some architectural works for Chief Bode George. He said he had two
children from ex-wife and that they alternated weekends with him and the woman.
“During one of our discussions on phone,
he told me that the money he was paying on child support to his ex-wife was
much and that he needed to come to Nigeria to raise money. At intervals, he
made me understand that he had shortfalls in the child support of $5,000 and he
requested for loans from me and that he would refund the money, when he gets to
Nigeria.
“I sent a total of $2,400, excluding
charges to him in three tranches at the exchange rate of N497 to a dollar
totaling N1,192,800 (One million one hundred and ninety two thousand eight
hundred naira). I sent the money to the
account of one, Marilyn Cudjoe in SunTrust Bank in the United States. He lied
to me that Marilyn, who he claimed was nee Makanjuola, was his cousin, but I
discovered recently that she was his legal wife.
“He subsequently got some money from me
as loans on different occasions, when he got to Nigeria on the premise that he
would repay them after collecting the balance payments of the contracts he had
executed in the country during his previous visits. The total money I lent him
was $12,000 at the rate of N497 to a dollar (Five Million Nine Hundred and
Sixty Four Thousand Naira). I had to rally round some of my friends and
associates to raise the money for him.
“Subsequently, I suggested that we should
go and see his only surviving sister, the prophetess so that she could be part
of the court wedding we were planning. He called the woman on phone in my
presence, he however, informed me that the woman told him that she would be
travelling to London that same night.
He then told me that he had another
relative in Meiran, Lagos, who had sight challenge, but that he would not go
there because they didn’t tell her about another relative of theirs that died
recently. I told him we had to see some of his relatives; but he said there was
no need for that. He said that he had some friends with whom he had been for
over 40 years that could be part of the wedding.
“It was one of those friends that
eventually signed for him at Yaba Registry, where we did the wedding. He said
that the first son of the prophetess would also attend the wedding, but he did
not come eventually.
“I didn’t suspect any foul play at that
time. I recalled that Ladi used to call him on phone frequently and I also
noticed that a lady called Ama (who I later discovered was Marilyn Cudjoe) was
consistently calling him from abroad complaining about the welfare of the
children. If I asked him who she was, he would tell me that she was the
housemaid he hired for his children staying with his ex-wife. I would then say
she ought to discuss any issue she had with their mother, but he would tell me
that their mother was a harsh woman, which was why the maid preferred to
discuss issues affecting the children with him directly.
“That was why I decided to call his
friend, Ladi, who revealed to me that the woman, Ama (Marilyn Cudjoe) that was always
calling him on phone bore him his two children and that the white woman never
had any child for him. When I asked about his marital status, Ladi said he was
not sure if he was legally married to the woman. He however said that he had
told him before he left America to tell me the whole secret. Let me state here
that I made all these discoveries after we had consummated the relationship at
the marriage registry in Yaba, Lagos.
“On one occasion, Ladi enquired on phone
about our location if it was Dubai or Nigeria, I replied that we were not in
Dubai and that we were in Nigeria together. I told him that Mr. Eniola never
mentioned anything about Dubai throughout our relationship before and after he
came to Nigeria. When I said this, Ladi was surprised and shouted ‘I am
flabbergasted.’ I would never forget that English. He said it was a surprise to
him because Mr. Eniola had promised to help him lend $250,000 for his proposed
pharmacy business from the fund of a former petroleum minister in Nigeria,
Diezani Allison-Madueke in his care in a bank in Dubai.
“Ladi told me that Mr. Eniola was
collecting money from him and some other people in the US and that he was
deceiving them that he would raise money from the said Dubai account of
Diezani.
“The man said further that Mr. Eniola
had robbed him of all his life savings as he promised to help him get some
loans from Diezani funds for his pharmacy business.
“I was surprised when I heard about
Diezani money because he never told me anything about the woman or any money
belonging to her. Ladi even told me that He was the one feeding the family of
Mr. Eniola in the United States because of the belief that he would help him
get loans for his business. Ladi told me a lot of things and I asked him if Mr.
Eniola was truly an architect, he said the man must have told me a lie and that
he read economics.
“I later asked Mr. Eniola about true
relationship with Ama, who he had told me was his children’s housemaid, he lied
to me that she was his baby mama and that I would not have married him if I
knew that it was an African woman that had children for him.
“I later discovered that the lady’s
mother is from Calabar in Cross River State, Nigeria, while her father is a
Ghanaian. He begged me and said that she only had children for him and that
they were not legally married.
“My investigations revealed that the
divorce paper Mr. Eniola brought to the marriage registry before our wedding,
was the one he had with Helen, whom he divorced in the 80s. I later learnt that
the reason he was not staying with Marilyn was because the first child she had
for him, a girl is a special child, while the second child is a boy.
“Mr. Eniola begged me that he was not
married to the lady, and that he could never marry her even if I did not marry
him. He said that she had bad characters and that even the late husband
of her sister begged/warned him not to formalize their relationship as he was
going to regret his actions if he failed to listen to him. He said he had
several reasons why he could not marry her, and that he decided to impregnate
her when he was desperate to have a child after his divorce with the white
ex-wife, Helen.
“According to him, the second child Ama
had for him was a mistake, as he said that he didn’t touch her for five years.
I was reliably informed that Ama (Marilyn Cudjoe) had told the American
Government that Mr. Eniola ran away and left her and the children. So, the
government gave her a house, and Mr. Eniola could not live there with them, he
only went there secretly at night.
“Mr. Eniola collected about $12,000 from
me, he even collected $2,000, when he was going. He returned to the United
States of America on 24th April, 2017 after spending six weeks in Nigeria and
got to the US on 26th April.
“He gave me an FCMB cheque of N6 Million
and another N340,000 cheque before he left Nigeria and told me to give someone
N100,000 from the second cheque. These were supposed to be repayment of the
loans he collected from me while in Nigeria. The cheque ought to mature a week
after he left, but the two cheques bounced.
“During his stay in Nigeria he awaited
purported payment into his bank account for the various contracts he said he
had undertaken in his previous visits to Nigeria.
“He knew from the onset that part of the
money lent to him were meant for my children’s school fees and borrowed funds.
Upon leaving, he told me that his business associate, Architect Ayo Assaf was
going to fund his FCMB account since he could not get it funded before leaving
Nigeria after me telling several stories and given excuses.
“The scam has affected the schooling of
my children and the incident has seriously affected my finances, while I am
also indebted to a lot of friends, who helped me out with funds.
“When Mr. Eniola got to the United
States of America, I received calls and threat messages from Marilyn Cudjoe,
who I believed was his baby mama until mid-August, when I located the house of
his sister, the prophetess through GPS, who revealed the whole secrets to me.
He had told me that the street, where the sister was staying in Ogudu was named
after family.The prophetess then called one of her children in London on phone,
who confirmed the claim. I was told that Mr. Eniola is a pathological liar.
“The prophetess further revealed to me
that Mr. Eniola was legally married to Marilyn Cudjoe. She said he once
impregnated a seamstress in their mother’s house and that the woman bore him a
boy 27 years ago, and that he married her traditionally.
“I remember an occasion, when we were in
the car around Maryland, Lagos and he had a call, he told the person on phone
that he would not be able to do a certain architectural job in Nigeria as was
already fully booked in the US. He then dropped the phone, and I asked him why
he didn’t want to take up the contract. He said it was Mr. Ayo Otedola that
called him and that he wanted him to do some drawings for Mr. Femi Otedola, his
(Ayo’s) younger brother.
“He said that Mr. Femi Otedola acquired
some land at Epe, Lagos, Nigeria and that he wanted him to do the architectural
drawing. He informed me that he and Architect Ayo Assaf did some architectural
jobs for Chief Bode George on some previous visits to Nigeria. Ayo Assaf was
said to have finished from Howard University, where Allison-Madueke also
finished from. A friend of Mr. Eniola confided in me that he lied about
finishing from MIT, and that he also finished from Howard. Mr. Eniola told me
that he and Ayo Otedola attended Kings College, Lagos for their secondary
education.
“I advised him to take up the job that
every kobo counts. He then deceived me that he called the man back on phone. He
later told me that he and Ayo Assaf wanted to have a meeting with Mr. Ayo
Otedola at Oriental Hotel, Lagos. I got a driver to take him to the hotel,
where he stayed for one hour. It was a friend’s driver that took him there. He
said that he would have another meeting with Mr. Femi Otedola and the same
driver took him there on another day. He was even teasing that Ayo dressed
heavily to the meeting unlike him that dressed casually.
“One of the revelations about Mr. Eniola
was that he once scammed the husband of one of his nieces in the process of
helping them to purchase two cars from auction sales in the United States. I
learned that they went for the auction together, and that the money for the
vehicles was transferred into the account of his wife, Marilyn Cudjoe. They
told me further that Mr. Eniola never paid the money to the auctioneers.
“I was told that a week later, the niece
and her husband called Mr. Eniola on phone to find out why they had not got
deliveries of the car, he told them that the cars had minor faults and that
they were with the mechanics for repairs.
“According to the informant, after the
couple had waited for weeks, they called the auctioneers on phone, who informed
them that they were never paid the money for the car by Mr. Eniola.
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| Lawon...allegedly claimed to be Femi Otedola's biz partner |
“I was informed that, when they called
Mr. Eniola on phone, he lied to them that the cars were with the mechanics, but
that they discovered that this was not true. I learned that they continued to
call Mr. Eniola on phone, but that he kept lying to them about his whereabouts
and that the couple is yet to get the money back from him.
“The same source revealed that there was
a time Mr. Eniola raised an alarm that he had cancer and that he needed the
family members to contribute money for his treatment. I was informed that the
family met and agreed to contribute money for him, but the source said that she
was adamant as the man had previously duped her.
“I gathered that while the deliberation
was on for weeks, someone close to Mr. Eniola called the family on phone and
informed them the man framed the cancer story.
“I also learned from Mr. Eniola’s
friends that he once duped one Mr. Niyi Folorunsho of a sum of N11 Million. I
was told that the man paid $5,000 into the account of Marilyn Cudjoe (his wife)
on two occasions on the pretext that he would assist him with some business
transactions and till date he never assisted the man or give him back his
money.
“As if that was not enough, another
reliable informant told me that Mr. Eniola once duped Lai Mohammed and Alhaji
Saro of a huge amount of money over the purchase of three vehicles. Sources
told me that he met the two personalities through one Shade in Nigeria. I was
informed that he promised to help them buy three vehicles from the US, but that
he only bought two vehicles for them, while he is yet to deliver the remaining
one.
“As I earlier mentioned in the story,
upon tracing the house of the sister of Mr. Eniola in Ogudu, Lagos, I
discovered that all that he told me were lies and that all the transactions
from the onset were scam.
“Also, in my pursuit for the truth about
Mr. Eniola, when I discovered that he must have scammed me, I was able to get
the phone number of Mr. Ayo Otedola, who conferenced my call alongside Mr. Femi
Oguniya, and they both confirmed that Mr. Eniola was a fraudster and Mr.
Oguniya claimed that Mr. Eniola once duped him N17 Million. Mr. Ayo Otedola revealed
to me that he never had any meeting with Mr. Eniola, when he came to Nigeria as
against all the meetings he told me they had at Oriental Hotel and Mr. Femi
Otedola’s office both in Lagos.
”Oguniya told me that Mr. Eniola lived
in their house for 17 months in Nigeria and that it got to a time that he was
deceiving people that he was the owner of the house. He alleged that he was
telling people that he was the one that owned the house and that he even gave
us his car, which was the car we gave him to be driving around.
“Oguniya told me that they had to seize
Mr. Eniola’s American passport before he went to get another one, and that they
could release the passport to me as a proof.
“I later called Mr. Eniola on phone and
told him of all my discoveries about him and his lies and that he should refund
the money he lent from me because part of the money was meant for my children’s
education. He also knew that I had been working all my life for my two children
so that they could have good education and that I have been a single parent for
over 20 years.
“Mr. Eniola later told me on phone that
he did not have any money and that he did not lend any money from me. He told
me the wedding he did with me was fake and that I should get lost and do
whatever I liked.
“Upon the intervention of some of his
friends, he promised to send $5,000 back to me as part of the repayment of the
loan, but he has since not sent any money to me.
“When I told him I would go back to his
sister to help me plead with him, he dared and threatened me never to go to his
sister’s house again that if I tried it I should bear whatever I experience
there as the sister would deal with me.
“In my effort to be martially free from
Mr. Eniola, I went back to the marriage registry, and they told me that I would
pay N60,000 for the annulment of the wedding, and presently it costs N150,000
for proper divorce, but this cannot be done until two years’ time.
“However, I still continued my search
for Mr. Eniola’s family members so that I could get part of my money if not all
as I am still indebted to a lot of people. Someone gave me the phone number of
one of the family members of Mr. Eniola, who sent some messages to me
concerning the past deeds of the man. The man, whose name I would not mention
for obvious reasons, said that I should congratulate myself because Mr.
Eniola’s attitude/lies had led to the death of many people.
“A reliable source then told me that I
should count myself lucky for being alive after the whole mess.
He said that pursuant to Mr. Eniola’s
wickedness to women, he once had a fiancee called; Toun (Ebute Metta) and that
the woman aborted pregnancies for him on about three occasions.
“I was told that one of the abortions
was done very late and that it affected the woman’ s womb such that she could
no longer conceive a child.
“The lady, I was told, remained single
for a long time, but the informant added that she got married later on two
occasions and that the marriages could not produce any child, which caused her
to commit suicide.
“A source said that Mr. Eniola continued
his evil adventure with women by going into a relationship with one Iyabo
(Ebute Metta).
“I gathered that this relationship was
so serious that he eventually got engaged to the woman and that invitation
cards were sent out for their wedding afterwards.
“The source added that it was so
unfortunate that Mr. Eniola did not show up on the day fixed for the wedding.
“What I was told was that he ought to
have been around a day to the wedding, but that he kept lying to the family of
the lady on the phone until the d-day.
“The lady reportedly had mental problem
after the unfortunate incident, but I learnt that the family was able to get
her back to her normal senses after making several efforts through men and
women of God.
“The source added that Mr. Eniola also
dated one Miss Baltimore in the US with whom he lived for two years and that he
lied to the lady that he was a medical doctor.
“According to him, the lady used to drop
Mr. Eniola in front of a hospital in the US, where he claimed to be working as
a doctor. This went on for two years during which period he allegedly extorted
the lady before she eventually discovered his lies.
“I was told that one of the reasons his
marriage to his American ex-wife, Helen failed was due to his unfaithfulness
and dubious character.
“I was told that whilst married to
Helen, Mr. Eniola invited a Nigerian girlfriend to the United States on the
pretext that she was his cousin. I gathered that anytime Helen went to work,
Mr. Eniola would be having illicit affairs with the lady until Helen caught
them red-handed.
“I was getting uncomfortable with the
way he was hiding his phone and making secret calls towards the end of his stay
in Nigeria after the marriage. This made me to access some of his phone chats
and I discovered that he had series of chats with different women across the
world. I am in possession of a chat, where he sent pictures of a collection of
wedding rings to a lady, asking her to pick her size, while promising to marry
her.
“I also discovered that he was chatting
with several ladies and when I challenged him about this, he begged that all
the chats were due to the fact that he was staying alone and that he was bored,
which he said was why he was having discussions with the ladies.
“I later discovered that the real
surname of Mr. Eniola is Erinoso and that Eniola is his mother’s maiden name.
“A source told me that Mr. Eniola
dropped his father’ s name because of his plan to perpetuate evil in the United
States of America.
“I just want the whole world to know
that MR. OLAJIDE BABAJIDE ENIOLA that is currently staying in the United States
of America as a citizen is a scammer, who has not stopped deceiving and
defrauding several women. He has since blocked my number on his phone and
threatening me, which was why I decided to expose him and inform the whole
world about his activities and fraudulent acts.
“Mr. Eniola is unperturbed that his evil
acts have affected the education of my children and my finances generally. I
just want people to help me out so that I can retrieve the money this heartless
man lent from me as some were borrowed from friends.”
The president of the association,
Chief Collins Enebeli a.k.a Mavin Granpa who was AMAN’s last-man-standing opened
the introduction with the historic background of AMAN and how it came into
being in the early 90s. This, no doubt gave the attendees sense of belonging
and the zeal to make see reasons for the continuation of the alliance. There
were film makers, music producers, journalists, show promoters ,
artistes managers, actors and.rappers, some PMAN members, also honoured
the inaugural meeting. The president went on to address the subject
matter as he took out time to lecture, almost effortlessly, the need for
an artiste manager to define their position and have prerogative, and essentially
to know their worth.
The meeting had well over 30 people
in attendance including entertainment talents such as star musician, Felix
Duke, Mr. Ezekiel, an international music promoter from Germany, Asa Ganga,
Nansy Mrs.Hustle, Lawal Adeola-the administrative officer co-ordinating the northern
region for the association, Tosca Roberts, the association’s acting secretary, Princess
Elizabeth Obanla, Timmy D, Chris Odia Osahon who honoured the MavinGrandPa by
presenting a work of art and the Enquirer crew to mention but a few.
