More information about the man detained by the Department of State Services, DSS for using Hanan Buhari’s old phone number has emerged.
According to Vanguard, the man is not a fish farm investor as claimed but a labourer who is paid a pittance on a pay-as-you-work basis by the owner of the fish farm.
The newspaper reports that the suspect, Okolie Ifediukwude Anthony, a native of Umuezei Quarters of Asaba, Delta State, was working in a small fish farm owned by one John Freeman in Otuogwu and paid a daily wage by the owner before he was caught for using the phone for criminal pursuits.
Read Also: Buhari’s Wife, Children Have Right To Use Presidential Jet: Presidency
It reported also that a document it sighted exclusively indicates that before he ventured into the fish farm business, Okolie Anthony was involved in betting game business, which he later gave up on the grounds that it was not profitable.
“I did sales of recharge with my sister now married for a while before my uncle opened a Betting shop for me to serve as an agent from 2016-2018.
“I later sold the shop because the business was not moving and was not bringing profit”.
“I am currently searching for job but managing a small fish pond with Mr. John Freeman in his compound located at Otuogwu, Asaba, Delta State and paid a small amount of money each day I visit the farm and also help out in doing some writing for the owner since his age does not allow him to hold bird and write,” Okolie said.
On how he came about the SIM that bears the name Hanan Buhari, Okolie said he bought the Subscribers Identification Module, SIM, from a roadside shop in Asaba having misplaced his previous number without knowing that the original owner had the name registered by the service provider.
Okolie confessed however that he was shocked to discover that each time he made calls with the number 09035666662, the true caller would indicate ‘Hanan Buhari’, a situation that made him to plan to report to MTN, the service provider, to ‘rectify the problem’ but he never reported until he was arrested.
Okolie reportedly ran into trouble with security agencies after he started posing as a woman and pretending as if he was the President’s daughter and original owner of the SIM all in a bid to curry favour from unsuspecting members of the public.
Okolie confessed: “I was arrested on July 21, 2019, after I had used the phone to chat with an unknown number which I asked for financial assistance and the man, promised to assist me but I never talked with him again because I did not know who the person was”.
It was also reported that a source close to the service provider, who issued the controversial SIM to Okolie, confirmed on Saturday night that the number was validly issued to Okolie after it was duly retrieved from the original user having been dormant for a long time in accordance with industry practice in order to keep its subscribers base healthy.
