The department of State Service, Taraba state command on Friday arrested a forty five (45) years old Ishaya Adamu (Jonathan) for parading himself as an Assistant Director in the Service and defrauding the public.

The state Director of the Service Bashir Abubakar who was represented at a briefing in Jalingo disclosed that the said Adamu was arrested at an hotel in Jalingo where he has been hibernating with his wife that he purportedly married with deceit have also defrauded.

Abubakar said that the suspect, who hails from Lafia Lamurde local government area of Adamawa state,  was only released from prison last December after serving a three year term for the same offence and has continued parading himself and defrauding people in Gombe, Yola and Jalingo under the pretext that he was a very senior staff of the Service.

“The suspect has been parading and defrauding people in Gombe, Yola and Jalingo, claiming that he is a very senior staff of the Department of State Services. He lied to his victims including his purported wife that he was recently transferred from Gombe to Nasarawa state, apparently to cover up his fraudulent identity from his acclaimed wife and the general public.

“One of his latest victims is a fifty give years old divorcee and mother of four who he met in Gombe early this year and proposed a marriage laced with deceit. The marriage was purportedly solemnized by a Malam in Yola, in the absence of the affected woman. Adamu, who was hitherto a Christian claimed to have converted to Islam and now bears Shuaibu Adamu in order to fulfil one of the conditions offered as prerequisite for marriage by the above mentioned affluent woman.

” He was discovered to have made away with several belongings of the purported wife to an elusive matrimonial home in Jalingo, but the property could not be traced, suggesting that they may have been sold. He also deceitfully collected the woman’s Honda Odyssey vehicle with promise to buy a brand new Toyota Vibes when he collects his leave allowance and other packages from the Service. He later turned the vehicle to commercial venture, traversing Bauchi and Gombe States, while deceiving the woman that he was at his new duty post in Nassarawa state Command of the Service and so was not released to visit her in Jalingo, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and several operations he was involved in” Abubakar disclosed.

The suspect who confessed to the press that he was guilty of the crime blamed it on the devil and said he deeply regrets his actions.

He said that “it is true that I am impersonating the Service. I regret my actions. It is the work of the devil. I have diabetes and hypertension so at times I used to fall down due to over thinking. I don’t know why I was doing this. I used to work in a construction company before I started this business”.

Saturday Sun investigation revealed that the suspect already has three children from three different women, all staying with their mothers, and  none of them his wife.