48-yr-old fake journalist nabbed(PHOTO)

Attempt by a 48-year-old fake journalist to blackmail a senior Immigration Service officer at the Lagos State Command, Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos, has been foiled.

The suspect, Udeh Nick, with others at large, who identified themselves as journalists from different media houses, reportedly wrote a letter to the senior officer last Thursday, requesting for a meeting with him.

Mr. Udeh, ‘journalist.’

Trouble, as gathered, started for the impostors as the officer, out of curiosity, referred them to the command’s spokesman.

Unknown to Nick, who allegedly led the delegation, calls were reportedly made to management of the media house he claimed to be from, including his scanned photograph, only to discover he had never been a staff of the company.

In this interview with Vanguard, the suspect, who claimed in the letter to the officer that they came from Abuja for a seminar in Lagos, pleaded to be let off the hook.

He, however, denied attempting to blackmail the officer.

He said: “I have never been a staff of Newswatch. We did not blackmail him. The letter we wrote is a friendly one. I don’t know why they are reading meaning into it.

“We only asked for a friendly meeting with him. We decided to do something to access him, being a new man there. We just wanted to reach out to him as a friend because if you read the letter there was no place we said we needed anything because there was nothing he had done to warrant any blackmail.

“However, in this case we went too far. I agree that the act is criminal and I accept that I am guilty of impersonation and there is no point denying.

“I am appealing that I should be shown some mercy.”

Source: Vanguard