By Elizabeth Chimobi
A shocking incident involving a fake court marriage at a government establishment in Akwa Ibom has been revealed by James Ogunjimi, a tech guru who shared his experience on Facebook.
Ogunjimi recounted how he and his bride unwittingly underwent a fraudulent marriage ceremony conducted by a staff member of the registry.
The couple, relying on a contact at the court, had been given an account number to make payments and were instructed to provide the required information ahead of the ceremony.
“We reached out to a contact in the court and he gave an account to pay to, requested all the necessary information.
The day of the registry marriage, we got there all glammed up and a man ushered us into a room for the ceremony.”
On their wedding day, they arrived at the registry dressed for the occasion and were ushered into a room by a man who conducted what appeared to be a legitimate ceremony.
The man provided marital advice, prayed for the couple, and handed them a marriage certificate.
“He spoke nicely, gave good advice, even prayed before joining us, making us sign the certificate and giving us the certificate. Lmao.”
The scam unraveled when the couple attempted to take photographs in front of a backdrop bearing the inscription “Akwa Ibom Registry.” As they were directed to the official spot by others, staff members of the actual registry noticed the certificate they had been given. Upon inspection, they discovered it was fake.
In a surprising twist, the fraudulent ceremony had been conducted within the same government building as the legitimate registry. According to Ogunjimi, the man responsible for the scam printed fake forms and certificates and had reportedly been caught in similar acts before but retained his job after receiving clemency.
The head of the registry, accompanied by some of Ogunjimi’s in-laws, confronted the perpetrator, who eventually refunded the money paid by the couple. The couple then completed their marriage properly, receiving a genuine certificate.
Ogunjimi expressed relief that they discovered the fraud before using the fake certificate in sensitive situations like visa applications, which could have led to severe consequences.
He concluded by warning others to verify their certificates and remain vigilant when dealing with such processes, sharing photos of both the fake and genuine certificates as evidence of their ordeal.
In James words: “What saved us was that we wanted to take pictures in front of a background that showed “Akwa Ibom Registry” or something like that.
Someone pointed the place to us just a few walks from where the man did the fake registry wedding.
It was when we were trying to take pictures that the real people that should have joined us asked to see the certificate we were given and hehehehe, it was fake.
Like, this man in a government establishment printed fake forms, fake marriage certificates, conducted a fake ceremony right there inside a government building.
The head of the place got into a car with some of my in-laws and went to confront the man. They were eventually able to get him to refund the money while threatening his job.
Turned out that the man had been doing that and had been caught before. They begged for him the last time and he was allowed to keep his job. But he’s still doing it.
We paid express fee and did the proper registry marriage with certificates and all, and I was just relieved that we didn’t carry a fake certificate to a sensitive place like the embassy, for instance, because that would have been instant arrest.
If you’re doing this or have, double-check and be careful, make dem no go implicate you.”