Nigerian mother who paid man £1000 to pose as baby's father caught in UK

A Nigerian mother, Faust Abolore who paid a man, Anthony Ezekpo £1,000 to pose as the baby’s father in order to escape being deported has been caught on Wednesday..


29yrs old Faust Abolore, allegedly
hired Anthony Ezekpo, 44, in a plot
to gain British citizenship, using his
name on the baby’s birth certificate
and a subsequent passport
application.

She claimed they lived together at a
bogus address in Chandlers Drive in
Erith in an attempt to fool Greenwich
council officials.

Accused: Faust Abolore was allegedly caught out by online
photos of the real father cradling his
son. London crown court heard the
baby’s real father, Nigerian national
Peter Gentry, was photographed at
the naming ceremony, on September 15, 2014, in the role of the doting dad.


On trial: Anthony Ezekpo, left,
allegedly gave false information in
using his name on the baby’s birth
certificate. Right, Samson Awoyinka
is accused of making a false
statement in counter-signing a passport application (Tony Palmer/
Square Mile News).

Ezekpo actually lives on the outskirts of Newcastle, Faust Abolore wired £1,000 to his bank account the day the birth certificate was signed, jurors heard.

“He was enlisted as part of a
fraudulent scheme to get British
citizenship for her to remain in the
UK,” said prosecutor Adam Gardner.

“A man turned up with her at council offices in Greenwich to register the birth and get a birth certificate. The man putting himself forward as the father was not Mr Gentry but Mr Ezekpo, and they both said they lived together.”

Abolore gave birth to her son at
Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich on August 6, 2014, and a photo on her phone shows Mr Gentry cradling the newborn child.

They were living together in
Columbus Square, Erith, having
entered UK illegally, the court heard,
and Faust Abolore was facing
deportation.

Once she had the birth certificate
with Ezekpo’s name on it, she
submitted a passport application
signed by Ezekpo and counter-
signed by Samson Awoyinka, 29, it is alleged. The guys even used "church" to lie.

“Mr Awoyinka said he knew Mr
Ezekpo for five years from his church congregation,” said Mr Gardner.

“This was not true, he barely knew
the man. He then admitted he signed the passport application and went to Greenwich.”

Now they're standing trial for a matter that could have been managed better.


Source: UK Standard