A Lagos State-based education consultant, Shitta Waliu Aderibigbe, and his firm, Fanzine Educational Consult, have been taken to court for allegedly conspiring to provide false information to the British Embassy in an attempt to get a Nigerian man deported from the UK

[dropcap]A[/dropcap] Lagos State-based education consultant, Shitta Waliu Aderibigbe, and his firm, Fanzine Educational Consult, have been dragged to court by the Office of the Inspector-General of Police for allegedly conspiring to provide false information to the British Embassy in a desperate attempt to get a Nigerian man deported from the United Kingdom.

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According to a two-count charge sheet filed by the police and seen by SaharaReporters, Aderibigbe, alongside a woman identified as Miss Dolapo Afussat Yusuf, who is currently at large, allegedly conspired in January 2022 to mislead British authorities by claiming that Yusuf was legally married to one Emmanuel Makinde Opeyemi.

This false claim, prosecutors say, triggered a chain reaction that nearly led to the forced repatriation of Opeyemi, who had no legal or marital ties to the said woman.

You gave false information… that one Emmanuel Makinde Opeyemi is married to one Dolapo Afussat Yusuf, information that has threatened the deportation of the said Emmanuel… an act you know to be unlawful.

The charge, filed in a court with jurisdiction over the matter, reads in part: “That you, Shitta Waliu Aderibigbe, Fanzine Educational Consult… and Miss Dolapo Afussat Yusuf (at large), did conspire among yourselves to commit felony to wit: giving false information to a public servant, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 97(1) of the Penal Code Act.”

In the second count, the prosecution accuses the defendants of deliberately misleading the British Embassy: “You gave false information… that one Emmanuel Makinde Opeyemi is married to one Dolapo Afussat Yusuf, information that has threatened the deportation of the said Emmanuel… an act you know to be unlawful.”

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As of press time, Dolapo Afussat Yusuf remains at large, while Aderibigbe and representatives of Fanzine Educational Consult are within the custodial jurisdiction of the Nigerian Police Force.

The case has been further adjourned to June 11 by the court for hearing.