A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, has raised the alarm over the use of his name by social media scammers to solicit funds allegedly for the case of the Indigenous People of Biafra leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
Ozekhome, who is Kanu’s lead counsel, raised the alarm in a statement dated December 15 and made available to press on Sunday.
Ozekhome had handed over N1 million raised by Kanu’s family to the Department of State Service for the IPOB leader’s feeding in custody.
But in the statement, Ozekhome noted that some “unscrupulous societal miscreants and criminal elements” had used the situation to fraudulently raise funds using his name.
He said, “The general public is hereby alerted that I, as the lead counsel for Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader and founder of the Indigenous People of Biafra, or my chambers, have never and will never in any way authorise anyone, whether as an individual, group of persons, corporate bodies, or authorities, to solicit for funds for me, or on my behalf, or on behalf of my chambers, for the purpose of prosecuting the cases of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, or for any other purpose howsoever and whatsoever.”
He then warned the public against falling for the schemes of the scammers, as he noted that the perpetrators “will be visited with the full weight Of the law.”
Ozekhome added, “Similarly, anyone caught donating money to such fraudsters and criminal elements allegedly on our behalf will be traced and made to face the full wrath of the law. Sooner than later!
“Members of the general public are hereby strongly advised and cautioned to desist from ever giving any money to fraudsters and impostors soliciting for funds in the name of Nnamdi Kanu’s cases, as neither Nnamdi Kanu, nor our chambers, as his lawyers, will ever approach members of the public through the social media, or any other channel, for the solidtation of funds for the alleged prosecution of Nnamdi Kanu’s case. We have never done so! We are not doing so!! We will never do so!!!”
He added that the security agencies had been notified to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of the act.
