Nigerian man convicted of fraud in UK after receiving N18m as Grenfell Tower fire victim
When 72 people burned to death in Grenfell Tower back in June 2018, a Nigerian man living in the UK, Abolaji Onafuye apparently only had one intention in mind – to use sad incident as an opportunity to secure an accommodation and more than £40,000 (Over N18 million) in compensation.
The 54-year-old father of five has been convicted for lying that his family died in the fire.
Onafuye claimed that two real victims were his his sister and nephew. He received the cash and was put in a four star hotel for nearly a year before being moved to a flat.
He claimed to have suffered “mental trauma” from seeing people screaming for help inside the tower, but a check through his mobile phone showed he was 12 miles away from the site on the day of the fire.
He later attempted to blame his false claims on low blood sugar, saying he was “hallucinating” and “temporarily insane” because he had been fasting.
The Isleworth Crown Court convicted him on two counts of frauds by false representation. Onafuye had denied that he intended to commit fraud.
“Abolaji Onafuye had no connections to the Grenfell Tower tragedy but saw an opportunity to benefit himself, both financially and with accommodation,” Prosecutor Michael Phillips, said.
“Our prosecution was able to prove he had repeatedly and intentionally lied and that his post-arrest story that it had all been an innocent mistake was just an attempt to escape the consequences of his cruel deception.”
Onafuye will be sentenced next Tuesday, December 18.
