Oyo police arrest fake PUNCHman in Ibadan

The Oyo State Police Command on Monday arrested one Kunle Moradeyo who paraded himself as a PUNCH correspondent sent from Lagos to gather news materials on private secondary schools in Ibadan.

Moradeyo was arrested at the premises of Rosebud College, Adebayo Alao-Akala Way, Okebadan Estate, Wofun, Ibadan.

He had approached the school owners on the pretext of writing a feature story on the school to be published in The PUNCH.

Moradeyo’s scam was, however, exposed when The PUNCH correspondent in the state, Mr. Olufemi Atoyebi and the company’s advert representative, Mr. Adeoye Adeyeri, paid a visit to the school on the invitation of the owners.

The PUNCHmen’s visit coincided with the time Moradeyo also came to the school.

The head of the school, Mrs. Comfort Aderogba, was shocked when she was told by the two PUNCH employees that Moradeyo was not a member of The PUNCH family.

Initially, Moradeyo insisted that he was sent from the company’s headquarters, but when our correspondent asked him a few questions about the company and his position, he changed his story and said he was a freelance journalist.

He later began to plead for clemency. The 36-year-old said he was a graduate of civil engineering from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, adding that he lost his job in Lagos.

The police were invited to the school and they whisked away the impersonator to Agodi Area Command, Ibadan.

His bag contained several bottles of perfumes, condoms, a toothbrush, analgesic drugs, hair cream, a T-shirt and other household needs.

Aderogba said Moradeyo had called her on the telephone and introduced himself asThePUNCH correspondent. She said she gave him an audience on his first visit until he demanded transport fare which she said was a strange demand from a PUNCH worker.

“We have been dealing with the media for a long time in the school, so when he approached me for materials to be used in writing a story of our school to be published in The PUNCH, I thought he was a genuine correspondent. But I was cautious when I noticed that his English was not polished. He said he was coming from Lagos, but when he was interrogated later, he said he lived here in Ibadan. I asked what the financial implication of the publication would be, he said it would cost nothing but his transport fare from Lagos, which was strange to me. From my interaction with The PUNCH correspondents here, I know PUNCH employees will not ask for that because it is against their ethics and the company policy. I asked him to come back on Monday (yesterday) and luckily for me, the two PUNCHmen in Ibadan came to the school and alerted me that he was a fake reporter,” said Aderogba.