Two Nigerians arrested for impersonating Kenya's first lady, top government officials

Police in Kenya have arrested two Nigerians, Timothy Ogba Ebakole and Alex Olusegun Adebayo,for impersonating some of Kenya’s top leaders including the Kenyan first lady, Margaret Kenyatta, in an attempt to swindle Kenyans. The duo also impersonated Kenyan Senators Steward Madzayo andChristopher Langat.

One of the impersonated senators, Steward Madzayo, said the duo created a fake Facebook account using his profile and started soliciting money from unsuspectingKenyan's in his constituency. He claimed the two Nigerians even faked his voice, allegedly asking for money to process bursary forms and other funds from the government.

“Even as we speak now, there are people calling and asking why I have not given them bursaries even after giving out money between Sh10, 000 and Sh20,000. On the said Facebook account, they had posted on the timeline, saying that my office in partnership with the national government is giving out loans in the name of Kenya Government 2017/2018 Empowerment Loan for Entrepreneurship (Nationwide). This is not true because my office does not have such an engagement,” Mr Madzayo said.

Mr Madzayo claimed the two would even send loan application forms to their victims to fill, respond in the affirmative, then send the forms back to the victims to sign after which they would then ask for money to process the application.

“People have paid hundreds of thousands in Kilifi to get loans which are not there. For the last six months, I had been receiving calls from people in my county who blame me for taking money and then failing to disburse their cash. That is when I decided to report the matter to the police''.