A private cyber cafe operator in Osogbo, Osun State, simply identified as Olasunkanmi Mutiu, who allegedly swindled students of the National Teachers’ Institute in the state to the tune of about N20 million, has begged the victims for forgiveness, saying he was ready to sell his property to refund them.
Mutiu, who was arrested by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offence Commission in the state allegedly collected the multi-million naira from over 420 students of the institution, being funds allegedly meant for their school fees.
The suspect was said to have been nabbed on the verge of leaving Nigeria.
The Point gathered that the suspect was picked up alongside his luggage on his way to an airport recently.
The management of NTI Kaduna has been at loggerheads with some students at its Study Centres in Osun State after the cyber cafe operator duped the school.
The affected students at the Degree, National Certificate Education and Post Graduate Diploma in Education centres of the state, it was gathered, had been visiting Mutiu, the owner of Olasmooth Cafe, Alekuwodo, Osogbo, for the online payment of their school fees and subsequent generation of their payment receipts known as Remita Retrieval Reference (RRR) since 2018.
At the cyber cafe, the students said they would give Mutiu their school fees to pay to the account of NTI and then generate RRR for them.
According to the victims, most of whom are elderly and young practicing teachers, they trusted Mutiu because he was a friend to the immediate past Osun State Coordinator, Dr. Edun Francis.
They also said he was usually seen with some national supervisors whenever they visited their centres. Trouble started for the over 420 affected students after about four years when the management discovered that the RRR they submitted were allegedly cloned by the cyber cafe operator and that the school fees they had reportedly paid were not found in the bank account.
NTI Kaduna was said to have sent a team of investigators to Osun in 2022 to probe the alleged scam before it was discovered that Mutiu scammed the students.
Notwithstanding, the school prevented the affected students from writing their examination and getting their results until they repay the school fees.
Meanwhile, Mutiu, in a meeting with the affected students recently admitted guilt and apologized.
He promised to sell his building and refund the funds to the students whose academic pursuits at NTI had been severely hampered.
Apologizing in a voice recording he sent to the affected students, the cyber cafe operator said, “I want to seek forgiveness from you all. A billion of my apology cannot remove the anguish and pain that I have caused you. I am a sinner, may God forgive me. Please, forgive me.
“If I said sorry and even returned the money I fraudulently collected from you, they are not enough to assuage the trauma that I have caused you all.
“I will pay you all back including those that might have been forced to repay the school management. Please, grant me peace of mind to work for the money so that I can pay it back. I promise you that you will get your money back.
“There is no explanation that is sufficient on how everything happened; all I seek from you is your forgiveness.”
A committee saddled with the task of recovering the money said Mutiu has declared readiness to sell his house and return the funds to the victims.
“Olasmooth (Mutiu) has seen and discussed with the committee members, asked for forgiveness and tendered unreserved apology for the grave mistake he had committed and successes hindered, injured, crippled and delayed.
“He is seriously ready to sell his germane property (house) of which the original documents of this property are already available and as well as the buyers. This is in conformity and legal arrangement between us, our lawyer, himself and his lawyer,” the committee chairman who did not want to be named told the affected students.
