Social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, stood with a large group of complainants on Monday, 31 August 2026, and said he would take more than 200 alleged TMT Travels victims to a police station to record statements and submit payment records against Ifeanyi Onukwubiri, chief executive of TMT Travels and Tours Limited, whose firm is based in Owerri, Imo State.
Otse said the gathering had come together that morning after years of unpaid refunds and undelivered visas.
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“This morning, I have over 200 people here who were scammed by TMT Travels and Tours. I will march everyone to the police station, where they will all write down their statements and tender their payment receipts and transaction records with TMT to the police,” he said.
He added that someone had asked him to drop the matter online, and that he had replied by asking for ₦200 million first so that settlement of the complainants could begin.
The claim sits on a file that has already passed through the Imo State Police Command. In late November 2025 the command said it was investigating allegations of visa fraud and obtaining money under false pretence.
Officers recovered nine Nigerian passports and invited Onukwubiri for questioning. On 4 December 2025 he was arraigned at a magistrate court in Owerri.
The court granted bail and released him to a surety. The case was adjourned to 21 January 2026. DSP Henry Okoye said complainants should follow the matter in court or deal with the company through lawful channels.
The human cost described by those who spoke earlier is heavy. Investigative reports by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism recorded individual payments of ₦1.5 million to ₦4 million for promised work visas to Japan, Canada, Luxembourg, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Some said they had waited since 2022 or 2023. A protest banner used with Otse in February 2026 put the combined loss at about ₦500 million and alleged that hundreds of Nigerian and international passports remained in the firm’s custody.
Obindi Innocent, from Anambra State, said he paid ₦3 million towards a ₦4 million Japan visa after contacting Onukwubiri on 28 February 2025, later paid ₦34,000 for a Covid-19 test he came to regard as worthless, and still had neither a visa nor a refund after many months.
Onukwubiri and the company have not been convicted. After the November 2025 outcry, TMT Travels and Tours described circulating claims on Facebook as “fake news” and thanked clients who, it said, knew the firm’s work.
When journalists reached him that month, Onukwubiri blamed a gap in communication and “mischief makers”, called the dispute resolvable, and said passports in custody would be returned and money issues settled amicably.
After his release on bail he said the company was committed to an amicable resolution and to better communication, and that clients remained its priority.
No travel agency can guarantee a visa, a point that sits beside the separate question of whether funds and passports were held without a lawful basis.
Otse first amplified the file in February 2026 and returned to it in May, sharing lists and receipts while warning that tribal argument should not bury the money trail. Monday’s gathering was a further public push rather than a court verdict.
The staggering sums cited by complainants, and the years some have spent without documents, explain why the activist’s intervention has drawn a crowd.
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Whether police now treat the fresh statements as a new inquiry or as support for the existing Owerri case will decide if the TMT Travels victims finally obtain a clear answer
Mariam Balogun is a contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, business, and public affairs.
