A 40-year-old man, Goodluck Onyewenyi, has been arrested for impersonating a kidney ailment patient, Joshua Onyeke, in Abuja, by opening an account in the patient’s name and sending out letters of assistance.
The suspect, who made over N4million from the donations, refused to give the money to the patient who is expected to undergo kidney transplant in India.
According to the Commissioner of Police in charge of FCT, CP Bala Ciroma: “The suspect who happens to be a family friend to the patient, took advantage of the relationship to write wealthy individuals, corporate organisations and highly placed government officials for financial assistance.
Preliminary investigation has revealed that the suspect uses names of patients identified to be suffering from kidney failure to solicit for financial assistance which he converts to his personal use.”
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Ciroma said investigation is on to determine the exact amount of money he collected from individuals, identify the individuals with a view to returning the funds to them and prosecute him.
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Narrating his role, the suspect said: “I changed my name to his name, I swore an affidavit and also changed my name using newspaper publication. I went ahead to open an account with Zenith bank. I solicited for fund with his name
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I wrote to the public soliciting for assistance and I backed up the assistance letter with his medical record to prove that it was a genuine case. I made over N4million from those who rendered help after the letter was sent out.”
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Reacting to the news, the elder brother to the patient, Abraham, said: “This is a clear case of wickedness, greed and breach of trust. We got the news from philanthropists who came to the hospital to know the true state of Joshua before making donations. .
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We begged him to transfer the money but he refused. The police stepped in and blocked his account through court order. He could not make withdrawal anymore. He then went further to open an account at one of the UBA branches in Suleja and the donations continued going in. It was then that he was arrested.”
