Suspects arrested as comedian Sirbalo is ‘scammed’ of N60m in Abuja

Obotuke Timothy, the Nigerian comedian better known as Sirbalo, has been allegedly duped of N60 million in a land purchase scam.

VeryDarkMan, the controversial social media critic, took to his Instagram page to reveal his efforts to help the comedian recover his money.

VDM said Sirbalo had intended to buy land in Abuja which cost N60 million but was allegedly duped.

The social media critic said the suspected land sellers were eventually arrested after all efforts to locate them.

“So, I dey police station this night. Not for myself but because of Sir Balo, the comedian. Sir Balo and his friends bought land from a guy. They saw the land online, went to go and check it, did surveying, and checked everything on the land. They now charged them N60million for the land. They went to the guy’s house and they paid for the land. The guy gave them the documents,” he said.

“A few months later, they went to the land to see if they could start development and discovered another person owned the land. They said ‘let us go back to the person that sold the land to us’. They went to the person’s house and discovered he was no longer there. They discovered the person rented the apartment when he knew Sir Balo wanted to come and pay for the land.

“Finally, they arrested the person after they searched for him.”

Confirming the development to TheCable Lifestyle, Josephine Adeh, the police spokesperson in Abuja, said the suspects were arrested based on the petition filed by VeryDarkMan.

Adeh said it was difficult to locate them due to their tactics in changing their phone numbers.

She added that there is an ongoing investigation to ascertain whether the suspects are in groups and how long they have been in the business.

“We arrested the suspects. The Sirbalo came through one VDM. He wrote a petition to the CP. The suspects used to pose with these apartments as their own houses. They locate somebody’s land and sell it and they would defraud you of your money and then disappear. So, in Sirbalo’s case too it is the same,” she said.

“The FCT police command was able to arrest those people. It has been a rollercoaster getting those people. Given the lines they used to communicate with Sirbalo and the rest, they deactivated the lines.

“We were able to get all the suspects. All of them are in our custody. The investigation will prove whether they are a syndicate and whether other people are involved. Because these particular ones that defrauded Sirbalo have been arrested.”