Olawale Oluwatosin, the US-based Nigerian accused of fraud after his Nigerian creditors could not reach him for years, has resurfaced to clarify his disappearance.
SaharaReporters had reported that Oluwatosin put many of his friends and colleagues into a web of debts by deceiving them into standing guarantors for his chains of loans before vanishing into thin air in December 2017, thus obligating many innocent guarantors to repay the debts.
However, in an email clarification he sent to SaharaReporters, Oluwatosin explained that he indeed returned to Nigeria in June 2018 after travelling in 2017, but he was abducted before he could reach his creditors.
“The trauma of this hapless incident made me to hurriedly go back to US without consummating the sale of the property I initially came for,” he said. “This led to my becoming unreachable as I took time off to be able to recover from the sad event.”
He insisted that he isn’t a fraudster as his disappearance made portrayed him, saying: “It should be known to the general public that the issue that led to the publication was a guarantee that was called in when the primary obligor seemed unreachable.
“It has since been resolved, and it becomes important that the general public be informed that OLUWATOSIN OLAWALE IS NOT A FRAUDSTER OR A THIEF. I have never been one and will never be at any time.”
HIS FULL RESPONSE
In reference to the subject publication in which allegations of fraud were level against me. It should be known to whole world that the allegations were untrue as it did not state the actual facts of the matter:
It is not only true that I worked in Ecobank before leaving for the US for medical purpose, but had worked meritoriously in the following banks: defunct Standard Trust Bank, Intercontinental Bank, Access and UBA, all spanning over 15years without any blemish. I obtained credits from some agencies with a couple of my friends guaranteeing my repayments. They are friends that I’ve known for some years and I have done the same thing for them at different points in time in the past. So, they had no reason to distrust me. What transpired afterwards and the facts of the unfortunate matter are stated here for public knowledge and for the records, even though the issues have already been straightened out with the people at the centre of the publication.
The fund I got was secured for a purpose for which it was used. The process of securing it was legitimate as no fraudulent intent was conceived. I left the country to attend to a critical health-related issue in December 2017 and I notified the lenders, as well as my friends that stood guarantee, of my absence. I made a pledge to them to offset the debt before the expiration of the tenor of the facilities.
Sometime in 2018, after I had departed, the lenders decided to mount pressure on my friends when they couldn’t reach me. I got wind of this and decided to come back to Nigeria to settle the creditors by selling one of my properties at home — Ekiti.
I got to Nigeria in June 2018, and unfortunately, while driving along Ilesha-Akure Expressway, I was kidnapped by AK47-wielding gunmen. I met two other abducted persons at their hideout and we were kept in their custody for four days. It took the intervention of Osun State Police Command team to secure our release. We were referred to Ijebu-Ijesha Police Station, where the incident was documented for further investigation and action. This is a verifiable event, which has since been confirmed by all the parties to the transactions.
The trauma of this hapless incident made me to hurriedly go back to US without consummating the sale of the property I initially came for. This led to my becoming unreachable as I took time off to be able to recover from the sad event.
It was within the period that I was unreachable that my friends became agitated and approached the media to create a perception of fraud.
Since the publication came out, my ex-colleagues and those that knew me to be a banker of almost two decades called my attention to it and I immediately came home to narrate the situations that warranted my being incommunicado since the kidnap event. They sympathized with me and made me see the reason why my action was regarded as fraudulent when the pressure of the lenders were getting unbearable for them and they couldn't immediately get in touch with me.
Consequently, it should be known to the general public that the issue that led to the publication was a guarantee that was called in when the primary obligor seemed unreachable. It has since been resolved, and it becomes important that the general public be informed that OLUWATOSIN OLAWALE IS NOT A FRAUDSTER OR A THIEF. I have never been one and will never be at any time.
I appreciate friend, family and colleagues that were concerned and brought the publication to our attention as it was actually not what it was perceived to be. The matter has since been resolved.
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