*he told us it was part of Gov’s free education–victims
The Imo State police command has arrested a criminal gang which specializes in extorting money from the unsuspecting members of the public seeking admission into tertiary institutions under the guise of admission into non-existent university.
Parading the kingpin of the gang, known as Dr. Fidelis Chukwjindu, before journalists yesterday at the state police headquarters, Owerri, the state commissioner of police, Mr. Muhammed Katsina disclosed that the gang leader was arrested while conducting entrance examination for about 576 victims.
The victims, he hinted, purchased the admission forms at N8,000.00 each for the fake university, identified as University College Hospital, located at Governor Rochas Okorocha’s community, Ogboko in Ideato South LGA of the state.
The police boss said that Dr. Fidelis had claimed to be a United States of American trained medical doctor, but later confessed not to have been a medical doctor as initially claimed.
Mr. Katsina stated that one striking thing about the strategy of the gangsters was the positioning of the illegal university which helped in convincing and deceiving their victims of the genuineness of the fake school.
He said the illegal university was located adjacent to Rochas Foundation College, and opposite the Imo European University(formerly permanent site for Imo State University), Ogboko in Ideato South LGA, using an abandoned uncompleted upstair as its temporary site.
The CP used the opportunity to warn that the police under his watch would continue to make the state very unsafe crime unattractive for criminals in the state.
Also speaking to journalists, two of the victims, Adaeze Okpara and Promise Duru disclosed that the man deceived them with flyers with an inscription that the university was part of the free university education programme of the governor.
When quizzed by journalists about his action, Dr. Fidelis, a native of Umudumabiakam Ogboko said he is not a medical doctor and had no certificate on any medical field.
He disclosed that he started practising medicine with the experience he had in medicine.
He added that he intended no harm but wanted to make both ends meet.
