Education consultant debunks scam allegations, threatens legal action

Senior Consultant, First Choice Educational Consult, Adedeji Oshin, has threatened a court action against peddlers of rumour over allegation of scam on the services rendered to clients.

Oshin insisted that he has not been declared wanted by any agency of government as alleged.

The consultant had in a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan the educational consultant said it has become imperative to make clarifications on what transpired between his organisation and the clients.

He disclosed that the matter has been reported to relevant authorities, the constant defamation, cyber bullying, blackmailing, cyber stalking and threat to his person, and necessary legal actions shall be taken against the individuals and groups involved in this act.

He said: ‘’My attention has been drawn to social media posts by some online platforms declaring me wanted on unverified and spurious allegations of me scamming some persons and I deem it imperative to make clarifications on the particular matter.

‘’In February 2023, our firm First Choice Educational Consults, of which I am the Director, had a Business partnership with a United Kingdom-based consultancy firm named WAIKAN CONSULTING who are in the business, as they claimed, of getting people care giver jobs in the United Kingdom.

‘’Our clients were charged between #2.9m and #3.2m (based on exchange rate at that time) for consultancy, administrative charges, logistics and training which all of them participated in.

‘’Please note that the entire process as promised by WAIKAN CONSULTING was four months which we relayed to our clients who also interfaced with the third party (WAIKAN CONSULTING).

‘’Four months later, precisely around June 2023, WAIKAN CONSULTING remained non forthcoming and of course, our clients became agitated.

‘’Premises on this, we instituted an interface with WAIKAN CONSULTING who claimed incomplete and unverifiable documents were submitted by applicants as a hitch to profiling our clients and this was relayed to the clients by the third party (WAIKAN CONSULTING).

‘’Unknown to our firm, some of these clients further sent enquiry and report to the third party demanding transactional details of our firm with the third party (WAIKAN CONSULTING). This led to a suspension of our partnership with WAIKAN Consulting by Waikan Consulting based on an overcharge by our firm upon discovery that some freelance agents who referred some of these clients charged the clients up to #7m to #9m or more’’.

Oshin reiterated  that his  firm did not charge more than #3.2m from these clients, adding that, ‘’ this was made known to the clients at an interactive meeting and further correspondence with the clients. Since July 2023 and now, over 50 of these clients have been refunded and we are actively processing refunds for others.

 Continuing, the educational administrator said: ‘’It is also noteworthy that the person on whose behalf these online platforms called me out have received a significant amount of their funds. I make a bold statement that I have never denied them or any other clients access to my person as we consistently share correspondence even till this moment. This contradicts the online platform declaring me wanted as I am neither on the run nor denying any of my clients as they and their sponsors may want the general public to believe.

‘’I, as the director of First Choice Educational Consult, have reported to relevant authorities, the constant defamation, cyber bullying, blackmailing, cyber stalking and threat to my person, and necessary legal actions shall be taken against the individuals and groups involved in this act and further resolve to protect by all legal means the soaring image of First Choice Educational Consults’’.

He  assured  the clients involved, that, ‘’ our firm in her over eleven years of operations has never been involved nor mentioned in any form of financial scandal and that they will get their refund in due time, as we are also pursuing our refund from the Company and other individuals involved

The incident has been reported to the United Kingdom Action fraud department to investigate and recover funds. We will pursue all legal avenues to protect our company’s reputation and ensure all clients receive their due funds’’.