Ayinde Kareem/

When an American woman arrived Nigeria few hours to Valentine’s Day in 2019 to marry a Nigerian man she met on Facebook, she was dreaming of a fairy tale romance ending with the words …and the Prince and Princess lived happily ever after.

But when the nuptial knot was finally tied on May 15, 2019, it was the 34-year-old Nigerian lover, Chukwuebuka Kasi Obiaku, who began to live happily ever after, until the police broke the unholy matrimony this month following a discovery that it wasn’t a love match as it appeared.

Obiaku’s bubble burst when somebody who observed that something was phony about the woman camped at the hotel alerted the police.

According to the Nigeria Police spokesman, DCP Frank Mba, Obiaku confined the unnamed American woman in a Lagos hotel where she was held against her wish for 14 months after the fake marriage while everything was done to empty all her bank accounts.

‘He also forcefully collected and took control of her credit and debit cards as well as the operation of her bank accounts including the receipt of her monthly retirement benefits and allowances over the period of 15 months.’

Worried that the fake lover might have done some terrible things to the woman’s body as well, the police asked if she was abused.

She told investigators: “He wedded me but didn’t marry me. He didn’t touch my body all through my captivity. All he wanted was my money.”

The Chief Detective learnt from a statement issued by the police that the victim who hails from Washington DC, USA, is a retired civil servant in the U.S.

Mba stated: “She arrived Nigeria on February 13, 2019 on a visit to one Chukwuebuka Kasi Obiaku, 34 years old, a native of Ikeduru LGA of Imo State whom she met on Facebook.

“She was however rescued by Police operatives attached to the Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Ogun State Annex, following information received from a patriotic and civic minded Nigerian in the Meiran area of Lagos State. The rescue of the American lady is coming on the heels of a similar case of abducted Filipino lady who was lured to Nigeria by her supposed lover whom she equally met on Facebook.”

The police revealed that Obiaku is a graduate of Business Administration and Management and an internet fraudster who has defrauded many unsuspecting members of the public locally and internationally.

“Chukwuebuka deliberately lured the victim into the country under the pretext of love and deceitfully married her on 15th May, 2019. He subsequently held her captive in a hotel, extorted from her monies amounting to a total of 48,000-USD. He also forcefully collected and took control of her credit and debit cards as well as the operation of her bank accounts including the receipt of her monthly retirement benefits and allowances over the period of 15 months. Chukwuebuka also used the victim as a front to defraud her associates and other foreign personalities and companies.’