2 Nigerians Arrested for Impersonating First Lady Margaret Kenyatta

Two Nigerian nationals have been arrested and will be charged with impersonating various prominent personalities including First Lady Margaret Kenyatta.

Timothy Ogba Ebakole and Alex Olesugun Adebayo are accused of orchestrating various online scams that saw unsuspecting people lose huge sums of cash.

The two allegedly opened fake Facebook accounts posing as, among others, the first lady, Kilifi Senator Stewart Madzayo and his Bomet counterpart Christopher Lang'at which they used to lure victims.

They would claim to be in a position to issue loans under the Kenya Government 2018 Empowerment Loan for Entrepreneurs program.

The forms purportedly came from the Office of the First Lady and USAID and bore the government emblem and seal.

[caption caption="Suspects Timothy Ogba Ebakole (left) and Alex Olesgun (centre) with detectives at Mtwapa police station on Saturday"][/caption]

Many people interested in the loans would reach out to the suspects, fill the forms and return them.

At this point, the accused would send “loan agreement forms” before demanding processing and insurance fees.

Kilifi Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCIO) Christopher Chesoli disclosed that the phones of the suspects which had been tracked to Kayole in Nairobi were still buzzing with mobile money messages.

“Even as we speak now, the phone is still receiving a lot of mobile money messages and we believe that many more people who have fallen victim to the two are still sending their money. We believe that they have received millions of shillings from the public,” he noted.

The suspects are being held at Mtwapa Police Station and could be among the first people to be charged under the recently passed Cybrecrime law.

Madzayo explained that many of his constituents thought people in his office were fleecing them as a result of the suspects' actions.

“This scam is created in an elaborate way so that the victims believe that it is me who is issuing the loan and this has brought a lot of embarrassment from my people because Kilifi residents think that the money obtained from them is pocketed by my office staff which is totally wrong,” he noted.

[caption caption="Kilifi Senator Stewart Madzayo"][/caption]

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