by Azeez Adeniyi

Charles Abam, a former police sergeant has been arrested by the police for attempting to defraud the children of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Abam reportedly confessed that he found out he could make a lot of money by defrauding influential Nigerians after losing his job in 2003.

The suspect allegedly got hold of the phone number of a prominent chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, whom he contacted by impersonating Mrs. Daisy Danjuma, wife of Gen. T.Y. Danjuma.

Through the APC chieftain, he was able to contact some members of the First Family, setting in motion a con that was supposed to net him millions of Naira.

He said, “When I had an opportunity to travel out of the country I left my duty post and went on to process my documents, but I was defrauded and I lost all my money.

“I went back to my police job but I was told that I had been declared a deserter. I begged to be reinstated but was not taken back. I then began to look for work. I also applied for a bank security job but did not get it.”

It was reported that Abam got the number of the President’s children by disguising as Daisy Danjuma.

He allegedly sent messages, again impersonating Danjuma” to asking them to present five names for a phantom job with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

Members of the First Family were said to have played along and sent some names and phone numbers to the suspected fraudster.

“The suspect then pretended to be officials of the NDLEA and called the phone number that had been sent to him. He asked them to pay a certain amount of money to a bank account, which would be payment for their kits during their training exercise. But no payment was made to the accounts,” our correspondent was told by the police source.

Abam was tracked down through the details of his bank account which he told his supposed victims to pay into.

According to him, his fraudulent activities started in 2014 after his unsuccessful attempts to find a job.

He said, “I started with internet fraud but I was not making enough money. Then, I went into local fraud. One of my friends, known as Mike, taught me how to impersonate people in order to get phone numbers of prominent politicians.

“Sometimes I also paid to get the phone numbers. I later met Felix (Machi), who became my partner. Before I attempted to defraud the president’s children, I had defrauded many politicians by pretending to be a kidney disease patient.

“I told some politicians that I needed financial help for a kidney transplant and many of them sent money to me. I got N70,000 from a member of the Anambra State House of Assembly,Emeka Obinna, the Commissioner for Lands in Delta State and he gave me N50,000.

“One Senator Ahmed Kamoni, gave me N150,000 while another member of the Anambra State House of Assembly, ObinnaUzor, gave me N50,000. I also got N50,000 from Senator Ahmed Yerima. Even the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejefor, gave me N100,000.

“I also got N100,000 from the Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Aniofor Udo andN5,500 from a former Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Daniel Abia.”

Abam said he gave 10 per cent of all the money he made from his kidney transplant fraud to Machi.