Afrinvest, a company founded by the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, is presently licking its wounds as it has lost what insiders said is in the region of billions of naira to a Ponzi Scheme operated by Imagine Lenders Firm, owned by Sampson Ajetunmobi and his wife, Elizabeth, whose whereabout is a subject of debate as they’re on the run as they are being sought by security operatives.
Credible information reaching us is that Imagine Lenders, is a firm founded by Samson Ajetunmobi in 2016. Prior to this, Ajetunmobi was a staff of Zenith Bank.
Soon he was able to convince some of his ex-colleagues in the banking hall and some others to join him in his new scheme. These individuals were the ones he was using to canvass for mostly high networth investors which ran into several hundreds of thousands.
Among those who were ‘captured’ and later fell prey to the bad end of the business were Elevation Church, Daystar Church, Piggyvest, GTB and Afrinvest.
Presently, the whereabout of the couple is unknown just as those who invested in the business have set up a WhatsApp group to trail them. The result of the trail was to the effect that the possible last place of residence of the couple and their two kids would be the UK as they reportedly bought school uniforms for their kids using Samson’s bank card on a UK website.
In another instance, the search for the runaway couple went as far as Antigua and Barbuda where late last year they bought passport/citizenship under the CIP(Citizenship by Investment Programme).
However, a concerned lawmaker of Antigua and Barbadus has raised queries on why his country should be used as an escape route by the couple demanding that the allegation against them should be investigated and the privilege granted them withdrawn.
Said the lawmaker: “I just saw an article about a Nigerian and his wife obtaining Antigua and Barbuda passports/citizenship under the CIP programme and they are now wanted for defrauding Nigerians.
“So, I’ve already put certain systems in place to ensure that if he’s [they’re] not here yet, that they [security operatives] could capture him [and his wife] on his [their] way here because Antigua and Barbuda won’t be a refuge for scams.”
He added that the government’s Citizenship by Investment Programme, which requires a person to make a significant economic contribution to the country to be granted citizenship, was put in place to attract investments, not to be a refuge for crooks.
Officials of Afrinvest include Godwin Obaseki(Founder), Donald Lawson(Chairman) and Ike Chioke(Group Managing Director).
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