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Qua Iboe Pastor, five others swindle applicants seeking oil company job of N9m

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Chioma job applicant



Police in Akwa-Ibom state on Wednesday arrested one Reverend Akpan of Qua Iboe Church and five others who are members of a employment racket syndicate.

The suspects were alleged to have swindled over 300 job seekers of about N9 million under the pretext of securing employment for them in an oil company before they were apprehended by officers attached to the Eket Police station in Eket Local Government Area of the state.

According to sources in the community, Akpan who claimed to be a pastor in the church was arrested alongside other suspects while conducting fake job interviews for the applicants at the church premises along Ekpeyo street, in Eket.

A youth leader in the community, Ubong Edoho, who confirmed the arrest, said he immediately alerted the police when he saw a crowd of applicants gathered for the said recruitment exercise for job openings in one of the oil companies located in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

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Edoho told The Punch on Friday that after making more inquiries, he discovered that the pastor and his syndicate have collected N32,000 from each person before issuing them fake employment forms to fill, preparatory for departure to unknown offshore location for the job.

He said

“The incident happened here in the premises of Qua Iboe Church, Ekpeyo street, Ikot Ebok in Eket Local Government Area .

“We had intelligent information that there are some people in the Church compound defrauding some unemployed youths. I informed the police as I went to Eket police station with my friends and report to Police Surveillance Team.

“On inquiries, we discovered that they have collected N32,000 from each person on that ground. We informed other youth leaders in the area and resolved that this kind of fraudulent activity cannot happen in our village and the police whisked them away to Eket police station where they interrogated them.”

Edoho said the syndicate claimed before the Divisional Police Officer in Eket that they were authorised by an oil company to recruit personnel for work but failed to produce relevant documents to justify their claims.

“There was no originating document from any oil company to show that they were working for any oil firm. I was with the DPO in his office in Eket and we could not found any paper to show what they claimed and the police detained them.”

Edoho further disclosed that the syndicate had defrauded people at Afaha Eket, Ikot Ekpene and Eastern Obolo through their nefarious activities.

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He wondered why people could use the name of church to commit such crime and not minding the consequence.

The Police Public Relations Officer in Akwa Ibom State, Odikko Macdon, when contacted said though he has not been briefed on the matter, the police would do thorough investigation to establish the facts of the case and bring the culprits to book.

“I don’t have that information at my disposal as at now. However, if there is anything ongoing like that, the police would leave no stone unturned in getting to the root of the matter” he said.

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