VAC, CEO, Chief Vivian Amadife Duped N97m, House

This is unbelievable! It is still surprising the kind of trouble that could have led Chief Mrs. Vivian Amadife, Chairman, VAC International Ltd into being duped by a conman. Amadife is one of the names that called the shots in the dock – labour sub-sector of the maritime industry. And in 2007 she went into manufacturing as an industrialist, leaving the maritime industry where she put in 19years of hard work and fame. As an industrialist, she pioneered Sesame oil production. It is an immune booster that increases sperm count and good for pregnant women.

Saturday Sun has report thus: As a Christian and an international businesswoman, Mrs. Amadife’s greatest wish was an op­portunity to personally meet Rev­erend Father Ejike Mbaka, a Catholic priest based in Enugu. Moved by her belief that as soon as she gets to meet the priest, her life and businesses will improve, she was excited when her friend of 10 years introduced her to one Dr Ohamadike, founder of Esoteric World Discovery Limited. She was told that Dr Ohamadike is highly spiritual that Father Mbaka found him worthy to be a friend. The quest, she alleged, costs her a house and about N97 million. She reported the incident to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which recovered her house and still investigating the N97million alleged fraud.

While narrating her ordeal to Saturday Sun, Vivian called on Nigerians to be wary of such persons whom she alleged defrauded her. She claimed that her desire to tell her story was as a result of several threats to her life to drop the case or die and to prevent victims from getting trapped.

“In business, there are bound to be ups and downs. I had so many of them and needed to bounce back. I am a spiritual person who believes so much that with God all things are possible. This was why I became a fan of Reverend Mbaka.

“I told Obiageli whom I thought was a re­liable friend that one of my greatest wishes was to have an audience with Father Mbaka. I knew quite well that if he lays his hands on me, my life and businesses will never remain the same. Obiageli told me that her spiritual father, Dr Ohamadike has direct access to Fa­ther Mbaka. To further convince me, she told me that she had personally witnessed where Father Mbaka called him and they spoke for more than two hours.

“I was carried away with my desire to meet Father Mbaka, that was how I fell into their trap. It was easy for him to tell me any­thing and I will fall for it. When I finally met Father Mbaka at my brother-in-law’s burial, he felt bad. He was screaming and said that he warned people to stop using his name to lie and steal. He also made it clear that nem­esis will surely catch up with them and they will be exposed.

“Although we currently have several cases in court, I want to use this medium to tell Ni­gerians to be wary of those they trust espe­cially those that parade themselves as people of God. If anyone could have told me that my supposedly dearest friend would conspire to dupe me, I would swear that it is a lie. I have moved on despite the many threats from them. They threatened to kill me if I do not drop the case. Well, you know if you have God by your side and do not do things that are questionable, you should not be afraid, especially when you go to equity with clean hands,” she said.

On when and how she became Obiageli’s friend, she alleged that they met over 10 years ago.

“It all started sometime in 2003, when the Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Dr. On­aga introduced both of us at an event. Then I was building an industry in Enugu and she was producing pure water. Considering the link, I was at peace to be friends with her since I do not know anybody in Enugu State.

“Initially, I used to stay in the hotel when­ever I visited till she lured me into staying in her house at 1, Ideoha Street, Independence Layout. Then her housegirl used to do the cooking till she decided to be doing it her­self,” Vivian said.

Humbled, Vivian felt honoured when her newfound friend decided to prepare her every meal. “For a long time, she had tried fruit­lessly to introduce me to her spiritual friend, whose nickname was Dr Ohamadike. She told me that it was the man’s prayer that made it possible that as rich as she was, kidnappers and armed robbers had never remembered her. I never took her seriously till kidnappers picked my friend’s son. Although the boy was later found, the family paid so much money. I was made to believe that it was his interven­tion that saw to the release of the boy. Before then I had parted with 1000 dollars which I was asked to pay to facilitate the prayers that will touch the heart of the kidnappers to re­lease the boy.

“When I realised that his demand was becoming outrageous, I informed my friend who told me that if I don’t give money to Ohamadike that I will not experience any form of miracle. It was then that I was made to believe that Ohamadike was one of Mba­ka’s close friends and confidants. She assured me that my business which was at a dwin­dling stage will surely pick up. She told me that Ohamadike was the only one that can assist me to get quick appointment with the priest.

“To further confuse me, my only son de­veloped acute stomachache. It was so bad that all efforts to get a cure failed. Desper­ate not to lose my son, I consulted him. He told me that before he cures anyone that he must conduct a spiritual search through his ministry known as Esoteric World Discovery Limited,” Vivian said.

According to Vivian, she further got trapped when Dr Ohamadike assured her that the American business that she got involved with will further yield her so much money. “I was fully convinced that he was real not knowing that my supposed friend was shar­ing my life story with him. I was ready to do anything possible to make progress in life. I trusted him and the prayer that he was con­ducting on my behalf. Most especially I had hope that he was working on getting me an appointment with Father Mbaka. He told me that God was using him on behalf of Mbaka to bless me.

“He came and said that he was into foreign exchange which I agreed to fund. I even con­tacted my friend to be part of the Forex trad­ing and she invested about N16million. All the money was paid directly into the man’s Esoteric World Discovery Limited account.

“In fact, it was Pamela that told me that we were in a fraudulent transaction. She came to my house crying that she has lost her money. I tried to assure her but she told me that Dr Ohamadike had emptied his account. I had to pay the N16 million back to Pamela with my own money in order to convince her that I was not part of the scam and again, her yell­ing was becoming uncontrollable. I later went to Obiageli who introduced me to Dr Ohama­dike and told her to call the man, because I knew they were still talking on the phone. I also told her the story of how the man bolted with Pamela’s money. She kept assuring me that the man said he would bring back the money,” she narrated.

After two weeks of endless wait, Vivian decided to take the matter to EFCC. “I told Obiageli that I would report the matter to the police. Unknown to me, she informed him of my intentions.

He later resurfaced and started telling me about my US business that had been stalled since 2011. I am the company’s sole agent in the whole of Africa, but their production was being delayed and millions of naira was trapped in the deal. I can’t explain what came over me as I accepted him back and contin­ued spending money in the name of prayers. Part of what he told me about my American business was that my contact person in US who is also in-charge of that deal would soon go blind, but I foolishly begged him not to allow the man go blind because he invented what would benefit the whole world.

“He now said that for him to stop the man from going blind he was going to take so much money from me,” she said.

Continuing the narration, Vivian ex­plained that when she had run out of cash, Dr Ohamadike allegedly requested for a post-dated cheque. “He then asked for post-dated cheques. I agreed and gave him the cheques but refused to put a date on them. I told him that when the goods are imported from US and I start selling, he will be taking his own share of the money for not allowing the pro­ducer of the product to go blind. This would be done as soon as the money from sales come in, so he agreed and I gave him ten cheques – of 10 million each, totalling N100 million without dates.

“I never knew that this was another trap as he ran to the police and told them he gave me money to build a factory for him for N100 mil­lion, which I did not build. That the cheques I gave him for loan repayment bounced and the bank returned them to him. He was doing all these because I threatened to arrest him. She called me threatening that he was in Lagos with policemen from Abuja and if I don’t come and meet them, I will suffer. Luckily, all efforts to lure me to the hotel failed,” she said.

Aware of what might happen, Vivian sent her lawyer to go and find out what was actually happening. “I sent my lawyer, Chuks Okeugiri and Company to the hotel to find out what was going on. My lawyer warned me that they were no policemen but fraudsters. I told him to stay with them there while I alerted the Lagos CP, who immediately gave me some officers who came and arrested them.

“During the arrest, Dr Ohamadike con­fessed to the crime and said that he hired some men to pose as policemen. We also arrested his fake lawyer in the hotel. They were immedi­ately moved to the Lagos State police com­mand headquarters in Ikeja.

“At the police station, Dr Ohamadike knelt down and begged for forgiveness. He told the CP that he is a guy man (fraudster) and should be forgiven. He promised that he would pay me back my money. It was when he jumped bail that I arrested my friend, Obiageli and took her to the police special fraud unit, SFU, Milverton road. Ikoyi. One of her friends now called and begged me to release her that they will get Innocent wherever he was hiding, which he did. He was re-arrested at Abakaliki.

“I re-arrested Dr Ohamadike through op­eratives of EFCC. Luckily, at EFCC, they re­covered my house which he and my so-called friend stole from me. He collected the house after milking me dry and I could no longer  meet his financial demands. He even lied to the police that he bought my house and gave me money. I now challenged him in the presence of the police to show evidence of how he paid me. He lied to them that he paid me in dollars. While the police were still on this case, he went and broke the fence of that house, put new fence, gave my tenants quit notice. It was like a magic to me. Upon arrest, EFCC searched his house, found my house documents and hand­ed them over to me. My undated cheques that he forged and put dates on are still with the police and they are yet to give them to EFCC,” she narrated.

She pleaded with operatives of EFCC to assist her in recovering her money which was fraudulently taken from her. “I want my money back, so far the law enforcement agencies have only retrieved N1million out of N97m plus. I want justice to prevail and deserving punishment meted out to the culprits to serve as a deterrent to others. So far, Dr Ohamadike collected more than N97 million most of which passed through his Esoteric World Discovery Lim­ited Zenith bank account. He also collected my house in Enugu which was worth over N35 million. This fraud took place between 2013 and 2014,” Vivian alleged.

She also raised the alarm that the suspects were after her life and would stop at nothing to terminate her life. “There have been so many threats to my life since I started fight­ing Dr Ohamadike and my so-called friends for defrauding me of my entire life’s savings and sweat. They have made several attempts but failed.

“Obiageli on her part is threatening fire and brimstone and has not been apologetic. She has been in and out of EFCC and has also sued for her fundamental human rights, but lost on two occasions, even at the Federal High Court.

“I must commend the operatives of EFCC for their in­tervention in investigating and prosecuting the suspect. Bishop Onaga on his part had made it clear that he will not support my money to go down the drain. He has equally told me to go ahead and retrieve my money through any legal means,” Vivian narrated.