Authorities in Bayero University, Kano have apprehended two persons parading themselves as lecturers and selling books to unsuspecting new students.
In a special bulletin by the Publication Secretary, Bala Abdullahi, on behalf of the Registrar of the university, the two suspects, David Iluebe from Edo State and Chike Eke from Delta State entered a lecture hall at the Faculty of Engineering and introduced themselves to 100-level students as lecturers of the department.
“Thereafter, they presented a set of four different textbooks on the Use of English, Statistics, Nigerian People and Culture, and lastly, Algebra and Geometry Mathematics threatening the students to purchase these books as a requirement for their Continuous Assessment (CA) otherwise they’ll fail their courses.
“The apprehensive students present in the hall responded by buying several copies to meet the course requirement,” the statement said.
Nemesis caught up with the suspects when the security operatives swooped in on them following a report.
“The two persons were, however, arrested on July 25, 2024, by the security operatives for suspected criminal trespass, impersonation and cheating.
“During preliminary investigation, the suspects claimed that they were the authors of the books they were selling to the students and they confessed to all the allegations leveled against them, revealing that they were hustling to make a living due to lack of a job.
“The suspects further disclosed that this was the second time they were coming to the state, having been to the Kano State Polytechnic earlier this year.
It was found that the set of books in their possession were all of poor quality and we’re mostly pirated.
“This is a very disturbing emerging trend in our tertiary institutions which are being invaded by crooks and charlatans masquerading as academicians in order to dupe and exploit our unsuspecting students,” the statement added.
The university would hand over the suspects to the Police for onward prosecution. The bulletin added that there would be a sensitisation effort for new students.
He also said, “The management of the university, therefore, warned students and the general public to be wary of such impersonators adding that surveillance has been beefed up in the university to avert the recurrence of such an ugly incident.”