My Single Story Of Nigerians

MY SINGLE STORY OF NIGERIANS
( Malicious Defrauders Until the Poets Came.)

Just some few minutes ago a very good friend of mine in Florida, USA sent me a message about how she has been codded by a Nigerian guy. The guy who has always played the Mr. gentle and Saint game all these while has had his way into deceiving a struggling woman. He is a $500 rich fraudster.

The above story also reminded me of my past encounter with a man of same attitude. Some where in 2010 I was so desperate to study abroad, I started searching for universities in the USA and China, at a point in my search I clicked on a link which beeped "scholarship for African students, Study in USA and UK for FREE". This sweet link directed me to the blog of my supposed angel. It had a long form for scholarship and another for admission to any university of my choice, I hurried through the registration and just a day after an email of confirmation was received.

It was so positive that I thanked God for the come true of some dreams. About three days later another email was received in request of some credentials which included my Wassce results, my TOEFL, cover letters and transcripts. I went through all possible means to harvest these documents. The day I had my transcript I assured myself I was soon going to be an undergraduate student of North Carolina State University.

The process went on and on to the crucial point where payment was inevitable and I had gained the trust of the other person whom I never had known excerpt through emails and the fake website of the school. First it was the admission dues of $50. Which was quite insignificant. So I quickly paid into the account number given. Another email dropped affirming my payment and I was informed the School will review my admission forms. This message sent me into some serious daily prayers. I needed God to show me my admission letter even before the school sit to decide.

Just a month later, a very beautiful congratulatory message came dancing in my mail. I was admitted and the future had arrived. In the same message I was informed that there had been cases where students got the school's Visa Application letter and never really attended the school upon arrival in America so to confirm my seriousness I will be required to pay half of my school fees and the scholarship will take care of the other half and my accommodation expenses before the letter would be issued to the America Embassy in Ghana, of which a copy will be sent to me.

Who was I to doubt at that point where America seemed just a stone throw away from me. Again Man had to enter every hole, cave and sea to conjure some dollars from nowhere. The amount was paid and that ended the whole deal. The email address which I was communicating through stopped working, my own email address was blocked and the school website became non-existing url.

I stayed indoors for more than a month, and wept bitterly for been fooled. I told a friend who was so conversant with the internet and he screamed "OOOOOHHHHH CLIIFFFF YOU HAVE FALLEN PREY TO SOME INTERNET PREDATORS IN NIGERIAN"

I was particularly shocked when he showed me the same chain of messages I was receiving and some more. He went further to show me how to determine the IP address of an email to know the location of the sender and when we checked the IP of the email address it was Ojo, Nigeria.

There and then I pledged never ever to trust any Nigerian. Until recently I met the positive ones. The ones who brought the poetry side of me and even went further to call me a brother. Had it not been these Poets I still would have remained of the view that Nigerians are fraudsters and cannot be made friends. But am glad I went through this experience and it is my prayer that my friend also console herself and learn a lesson.