Tobias Sylvester
A 300-level student of the Department of Agriculture, University of Ilorin, Gbenga Favour Olaoye-Akanbi, has committed suicide after losing over N300 million to a forex trader, Eseka Chuckwutem Gospel (ESG).
Accoding to SaharaReporters, the 19-year-old student was alleged to have invested over N300 million belonging to his colleagues and friends in a forex business run by ESG.
Family sources said that Olaoye-Akanbi couldn’t withstand the pressure from his investors after the forex investment with ESG crashed. He was discovered dead on Sunday after drinking poison.
Speaking with the media outlet, a friend of the deceased and an investor with the firm explained how they were duped.
“The investment is forex. The guy’s name is Eseka Chuckwutem Gospel. We started the investment together this year. It seems he stopped trading, so he turned indirectly to a Ponzi scheme without the knowledge of those investing,” he said.
“He has a particular group. Most people in that group collected money from other people to invest in his business. The late Gbenga collected money from different people to invest with ESG at a certain percentage.
“Later on, the investment crashed, and the guy was arrested. With the help of some senior police officials, he was released. So over time, people that were with ESG as investors( they had borrowed money to invest) were now being pressurized to repay the loan they took.
“I am one of the investors, too; we were under a lot of pressure to pay up. So I think because of this guy’s age, he is just 19-year-old, he couldn’t withstand the pressure and committed suicide.”
A course mate of the deceased said he assured them that forex is not a Ponzi scheme and that he had back up funds, much enough to pay every one of his investors their capital and profits even if things went wrong.
“It’s so sad; I have over N5m investment deal with him. He claimed to be the one doing the trading initially, but when the problem started around June, he started mentioning one Eseka Chuckwutem Gospel as his boss. He told us they were arrested together, but that our money was safe with him.
He later promised to pay everyone’s capital before December. I was surprised when I saw people posting his pictures with RIP today,” he told SaharaReporters.
University of Ilorin Student (Akanbi Favour a.k.a Jasper) with Matric number: 17/10AC589 Commits Suicide After Losing N300m To Forex pic.twitter.com/X8psOUBvjj
— Unilorin Whatsapp Tv 📺 (@promax_tv) December 22, 2020
— Unilorin Whatsapp Tv 📺 (@promax_tv) December 22, 2020
After @SaharaReporters tweeted about the news I got more feedbacks and he has been confirmed dead, I also received a confirmation video of the Unilorin Student who committed suicide after losing N300m to forex trading. Video is…. ⚠️Watch pic.twitter.com/KQ8AMbm2pS
— Gideon Nwani (@_PablocastroPR) December 22, 2020
KanyiDaily had also reported how a FUNAAB student was arrested for duping his colleague, professors and lecturers of N6 billion in a forex scam gone wrong.
