Just like every other fresh Law student, Ologundudu as a 100-level student was full of curiosity and zeal for the legal profession. Going all out for his passion, he attended tutorials, read ahead of the class and lived in the consciousness of legal principles and relevant case laws. Shining as a beacon of motivation for his classmates, they sought his help in understanding legal principles as he simplified complex principles and exceptions. Needless to mention, Ologundudu was one of the top students in his class, clinching scholarships and likewise the As.
Ologundudu Omololu, now a 400-level student of the faculty of Law has been alleged of fraud on multiple occasions, leaving various trails of victims. The news of his fraudulent activities seemed at first like a bad dream, a man’s worst nightmare. However, as the days went by, what seemed like a nightmare spiraled into an excruciating reality. He began with collecting meager amounts from friends and close classmates, under the guise of being stranded, having issues with his mobile banking application, being sick and in need of drugs. He had, on many occasions, claimed he had a tumor/cancer and required money to treat it. At a time, he said he got a Canadian Visa and would require money to cater to other travel expenses.
In a chat with the accused, it was discovered that, prior to the episodes of his fraudulent activities, he claimed that he had financial problems in 200-level through 300-level, which had him juggling school and menial jobs, one of which was coaching (at a tutorial center called House of Scholars) among others. He stated that the financial problems stemmed from having to treat a sickness he was diagnosed with, coupled with school expenses as he claimed he had no parental support. The accused, when asked about the nature of his sickness, sent a view-once picture and video of his X-ray and test results which showed he was suffering from a kind of swelling in the breast called “gynecomastia.”
It was also gathered that he barely attended classes due to this supposed health and financial troubles. At one point, the accused decided to create an intellectual property. He said that he compiled past questions and answers which he intended to give out to members of the 100-level and 200-level class for ₦5000.
According to Tobi, a member of the then 200-level class, “when I got the material, it was #3,000. I belonged to a group where we contributed money to get the material. It was an encrypted material which required a password to access. We paid way earlier for the material but Ologundudu did not give us the password until it was very close to the exam time. He kept postponing saying he wanted to encrypt the materials. This caused a fight between my course-mate who was one of us in the group and Ologundudu that he went to report to the course representative of Ologundudu’s class. This was because he wanted to get his personal copy”
“Later on, my course-mate after many days of pestering and requesting access to the encrypted material, demanded a refund not caring about the material anymore,” Tobi explained.
A screenshot of the conversation
He claimed to have created this intellectual property to augment earnings from his other jobs.
A picture of the accused’s sold Q/A materials.
A Web of Fraudulent Scandals Unfolds
Later on, rumors about how he had begun obtaining money from people by false pretense, spread.
Following this was a broadcast published on the 19th of July, by one Precious, a 200-level law student who claimed to be a victim. In the broadcast, Aluya alerted members of the public that the accused had previously obtained money from him and others by either claiming he was sick, he could not access his banking app or he got a Canadian scholarship.
According to Precious, “Ologundudu was my government tutor at HOS. He had informed me of how he was down with a health issue so I helped out with an amount. Much later, he came back to tell me of how he had gotten a Canadian scholarship and would be needing money to process the scholarship. I asked him to send proof and he did. However, I discovered that the email he sent looked so tacky and fake, so I detected that it was not authentic. I told him that the email was doctored but he feigned ignorance and played the victim card, claiming he had spent so much money on the scholarship and had also been duped. But, I didn’t fall for his gimmicks.
On one of the outbursts that happened on the accused’s class group chat, he claimed that the matter was at the school disciplinary committee.
Contrary to the accused’s claim, which was intended to calm tensions among classmates in their group chat, that the issue is already being addressed by the School Disciplinary Committee (SDC), evidence suggests otherwise. Specifically, when Precious attempted to file a complaint against the accused in July, he was redirected back to the faculty, indicating that the matter had not, in fact, been escalated to the SDC or school management as claimed.
“I went to the SDC office to make a complaint and I was told I won’t be able to make an oral one and that it has to be written. And given that we’re in the same faculty, I was instructed to address it to our dean, the former one, and that was exactly what I did. We were both called upon to resolve the issue by the Sub -dean who ordered Ologundudu to refund all his victims,” Precious told UCJUI.
In a bid to verify all information, Precious was asked again, on the 11th of November if they had been called back by SDC, he said “ No, till date”
Paying off his debts was expected to be a redemptive step for the accused, a way to make up for his wrongs. However, it turned out he had more than enough mischief to go round.
In a conversation with Enioluwafe who works in the same coaching center as the accused, she revealed how the accused had shown her a fake transaction receipt.
“I met him as a tutor around 2019 at the Home of Scholars Tutorial, Ibadan, popularly known as HOS but he no longer tutors at HOS because he absconded right after he was asked to refund the persons he had defrauded at the coaching center. As a P.A. and secretary to Dr. Sugar, the head of the tutorial center, I heard about his various fraudulent activities, even Dr. Sugar was a victim of his fraud, he even claimed at some point that he had a spiritual problem which was making him defraud people. On this very day, he said he needed cash to restock as he was going to make a transfer to me immediately and I had cash with me so I gave him. In HOS, I am responsible for taking accounts. It was either transfer or cash, so I informed Dr. Sugar of what Ologundudu said and he said he could have it. I made a transfer of 10,000 to him that very day. Although he did not show me the receipt immediately, I felt like he wouldn’t do anything funny. The next day, he collected 20,000 from me as he showed me a receipt on his phone, then I started suspecting him because I use OPay and Palmpay well and the receipt he tendered did not look authentic. So, I messaged Dr. Sugar immediately to confirm the payment and behold, the transaction receipt was fake, he did not make the payment. It’s unfortunate I don’t have any evidence because Ologundudu always has his disappearing messages on, even the texts I sent to him requesting for the money have disappeared.”
Despite these, the accused at the time did not expressly admit defrauding people, he said that the faculty of Law was still investigating the matter.
A respondent who pleaded anonymity said that the accused claimed he was diagnosed with cancer. He further claimed that he gave a sum of five thousand Naira to him while he later borrowed an additional fifteen thousand Naira.
“The first time, he claimed to have a tumor but I cannot remember whether he later said the tumor had been operated on. Afterwards, he said the tumor came back with pains and he said he had to buy drugs to suppress the pains.”
He also reached out to people so they could raise money for Ologundudu. However, he contacted a doctor in order to take along a knowledgeable person. The doctor inquired who Ologundudu’s doctor was and he claimed he was a patient of the University College Hospital.
“I reached out to people and around two hundred thousand Naira was raised. When I asked for documentation, he could not provide it and the conversation died a natural death,” the source said.
But that was not the only time he fell victim.
“The last time he texted, he claimed he was working at a place and he was meant to receive his wage on Monday. That day was a Friday. He told me he owed a micro finance bank money and they would take his phone away if he did not pay on that day. I lent him fifteen thousand Naira that day. On Saturday, I realized the receipt I sent had disappeared and I sensed foul play. Unfortunately for him, I took screenshots of our chats where he asked for money so I was not bothered.”
He tried recovering his money by asking after a week. His calls were not picked. He further stated that he sent texts expressing his displeasure yet, to no avail. He initially wanted to send someone to confront him because he was not in Ibadan as at that time but he remembered the accused claimed he was ‘sick’ so he left it all.
Another source, Jesse, a classmate of the accused stated that he could not remember what Ologundudu claimed he needed the first time he gave money to him. However, he can remember the second time.
“I was not going to give him because he already owed me. He did not block me but he did not reply to my messages.”
Likewise, one Habeeb, a 400-level student from the department of linguistics, fell victim to the accused fraudulent act sometime in July. Although the accused claimed to have made efforts to refund every one of his victims, Habeeb has yet been refunded. This was discovered recently in a chat with Habeeb.
Amongst the many unrefunded victims of the accused is Halimat, an aspirant of UI who was in Ibadan in September to write her post utme. Halimat stated that the accused tutored her for the exam and even sold books to some of them who were willing to buy.
“He sold books to some of us and also tutored us for the exam. One of my friends however told me of how Ologundudu was a fraudster but I didn’t give it a thought. At least, not until he said I couldn’t make the cutoff and I should pay for a change of course. He took #4,000 from me and did not do anything about changing my course. I got to know about this when I checked back in and found that he didn’t do anything. I have not been refunded even, as I speak.”
In response to this, the accused explained that he had not refunded the girl because he couldn’t identify her contact on his phone since he saves his students’ contacts with letters and the name of the coaching center to avoid unnecessary relationships with them.
However, Jennifer, a 200-level student of linguistics, expressed her satisfaction in having gotten her money back from the accused although it took two weeks of incessant calling and hounding of the accused.
“Mr Ologundudu was one of my tutors before I gained admission. We were not close and I did not really talk to him. On this fateful day, he replied to my status update with a sad sticker and I thought it was a mistake but it wasn’t. Mr Ologundudu said he had issues with his mobile banking application and he even snapped it and sent it to me, he also sent a voice note to assure me he was the one. I lent him the money and he said he was going to return it the next day. I kept calling for close to two weeks and he ignored all of my calls and even when I used a different number, he’d cut it as soon as he heard my voice. I had to report to some persons and also Papa who was also one of my tutors, they intervened and I got my money back,” She said.
Not everyone contacted however has been swindled. A contact asserted he knows the accused and that he has not at any time obtained money from him under false pretense. He also stated that he knows about the matter which was at the time tabled before the Dean. He made known of his disinterest in interfering except if summoned by the faculty authorities.
On the 26th of October, a group of 400-level students in the faculty of Law who identify as the “Sages Chamber” released a memorandum stating that the accused was no longer a member of their group. Apparently, the accused was a member of the group and had subsequently left as a result of his fraudulent escapades.
“Ologundudu O.A. keeps growing wings in these uncalled-for acts and his continued misconduct is damaging the reputation and good standing of the Sages Chamber and its members. We have received numerous complaints from victims of his premeditated illicit and disgraceful schemes, and it is now clear that we can no longer be associated with him…therefore, we wish to categorically state that Ologundudu Omololu Abraham, a 400 level student of law at the University of Ibadan has left the group and by implication is no longer a member of the chamber…” the memo reads.
