Hajia Ubedatu Tajudeen, a Kaduna State resident, has failed to obtain a Qatari visa for Bello Sodiq (not real name), a Nigerian traveller, from whom she had collected N4.5 million in February.

Tajudeen had presented herself to Sodiq as a travelling agent, claiming she had processed visas and related papers for a broad base of her clientele without any problem.

Convinced by Tajudeen’s proposal, Sodiq paid the required amount, expecting a visa to be approved for him in two weeks.

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A copy of payment evidence showing the transfer of N4 million from Bello to Tajudeen.

“I met her through an acquaintance. When she became aware of my current job in Nigeria, she claimed such jobs are well paid for in Qatar. She said she could help me process my relocation documents if I so desired. She also said I would see a better job in Qatar along the lines of my job in Nigeria,” Sodiq narrated to FIJ on Sunday.

“I then started saving and looking for more money. Exactly on February 20, I paid her N4.5 million for the entire visa process. She promised a wait time of two weeks for the visa to be approved.”

Receipts of the money transfer from Sodiq to Tajudeen and screenshots of their WhatsApp conversation confirmed the transaction’s date and time.

Eleven months down the line, however, what Tajudeen has succeeded in delivering to her customer are “several excuses”.

Realising that the visa agent would not deliver on their agreement, Sodiq asked Tajudeen for a refund. Both parties agreed to it.

“Remember that she was expected to deliver the visa in two weeks, which ended in the first week of March. Since then, she has only been giving me several excuses without a visa approval or a refund,” Sodiq said.

“By mid-April, we both agreed that if she could not fulfil her part of the agreement after waiting for almost 3 months, she would refund the money by the middle of May.

A screenshot of the WhatsApp conversation between Bello and Tajudeen.

“By July, she claimed she had already paid for and processed the visa. She went as far as claiming that she had also paid for a flight ticket for a visa that was yet to be approved.”

The agent not only failed to refund the money on the deadline, but she also stopped responding to phone calls or messages from Sodiq.

“All efforts to reach her to get the money have proved abortive; she has stopped picking up calls or responding to messages from me. The money was all I had. A lot of things depend on me recovering my money from her,” said Sodiq.

“Until Monday, April was the last time she responded to me after sending nothing less than 200 messages, but she spoke with my acquaintance in August. She has stopped responding to our calls altogether.”

Tajudeen’s refusal to refund the money has negatively affected Sodiq and prevented him from moving forward with other opportunities.

In September, he forfeited an admission offered to him by a foreign university because of financial incapacity.

“I lost out on my admission by the Robert Gordon University in Scotland because of this. I got the offer in May 2023 for the September 2023 cycle, but I deferred it for the September 2024 cycle to prepare financially. I ended up losing it because I could not raise the required money,” he said.

“I did not do my due diligence because the person who recommended her to me was reliable. I also did not sense any deception because one of my brothers had already got his visa through her and gone.”

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A screenshot of the WhatsApp Tajudeen’s response to Bello last Monday.

Attempts to reach Tajudeen for comment on this story were not successful. FIJ phoned her twice on Monday and Sunday without any response. Two text messages were sent to her on those days but got no response.

In her only response to Sodiq’s reminder on WhatsApp on Monday since April, she promised to refund the money soon. “In Sha Allah, very soon, you will get your money,” said wrote.
The post 9 Months After Failed Qatari Visa Application, Kaduna Agent Hajia Ubedatu Tajudeen Yet to Refund Customer’s N4.5m appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.