His name is Jehu Kwasu and he is a Political Science graduate. He was arrested for impersonating Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Kukah and using this to defraud people.
Jehu is incidentally the son of a bishop himself and counts among those he defrauded, Bishop David Oyedepo of Living Faith Church Worldwide, who he claimed gave him N500,000; the Chairman, Honeywell Group, Oba Otudeko, N1m; Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, N500,000; businessman, Alhaji Aminu Dantata, N2m.
According to Kwasu; “I collected N500,000 from Otudeko, CEO, Honeywell: From Admiral Kanu, I got N500,000. I also got N500,000 from Bishop Oyedepo and N2m from Dantata. I also got money from Gen. Wushishi and others.”
“I opened a Guaranty Trust Bank account in Bishop Kukah’s name. I registered a SIM card in my name, but used Bishop Kukah’s picture on my True Caller account, so that when I call, his picture would appear (on the recipient’s phone.)”
For his troubles, Kwasu is cooling his heels in Keffi Prison in Abuja for 2 months.
He claims he made about N5.7m, meanwhile, the police said they only found N1.7m in his account with the rest being frittered away on girls and drugs.
Kwasu explained that the also impersonated his father James Kwasu who is late and defrauded the Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, when the latter was the Speaker, House of Representatives.
The fraudster explained how he did it stating that he solicited for funds for the IDPs from his victims and that was how he got his money.
The cleric’s son also stated that he obtained a passport with the name, Mathew Hassah Kukah Jehu, and also opened an account with the GTB in the same name.
He said, “I called people on the telephone and told them I was Bishop Kukah. I used his picture on my True Caller account, so that when I called people, they would think he was the one talking with them.
“I also obtained a passport in Bishop Kukah’s name which I used to open an account with GTB. The money I realised was paid into the account and I used an Automated Teller Machine card to withdraw it.”
The Punch reports that Bishop Kukah found out of the scam through some people close to him after which he acted quickly instructing the bank to place a “no debit order” on the account.
When the fraudster tried to withdraw from the account and couldn’t, he went to the bank to complain and was promptly arrested.
Kwasu also claimed that he tried to defraud David Mark, “Mark said I should come for some money, so I sent my girlfriend. But she was arrested and I was taken to court and sentenced to two months imprisonment or N9,000 fine,” he said.