Aunty, I have been doing this business since the past 8 years now. I have been helping people process their forms and help them get visa to anywhere in the world and many times they get it; you understand me?
I have connections every where and so I use my connections to help people who wish to travel; and these people, my connections, I have to settle them as well.
Have I traveled before? I like my country, o. where am I travelling abroad to, na? For what, when my business is doing well here? No, I have no plan to travel but I know that if I want to travel, I can. But I have helped plenty people to fill their forms and help them get visa for abroad.
Please don’t ask me about my connections because this is my own secret in this business. I will not ask a caterer, say madam how you dey cook your food that everybody is coming to your canteen? No. So it’s the same for me. I have my secret that I will not tell anybody but I know I tried for Linus, and still he carry me to police for fraud.
Is all right, let me start from the beginning?
If you come to me, say, you want to travel abroad, before I help you fill form, say maybe you want to go to the UK, I will ask for some specific information. I will get my own information that I know will help you get the visa and you will pay me for all these services before you go for the final thing because some people, once they get their visa – na go be that – they will not pay me my balance, so I will collect all my money from you before you go inside visa office either to submit your form or for interview.
Is that not how, three years ago, Linus came to me, say somebody gave him my number to help him get visa to go to Italy. You know Italy Visa is Schengen and at that time, I think they even changed the process of getting Schengen visa. So I charged him small amount because he came from someone body who has tested my services and knows I can deliver.
I charged him N450,000 only. And that is because I will get him all his papers that the visa office will ask for plus I will help him fill his form. Ok, so, we finished the process and I gave him everything in one big file to go and submit. I did not even worry about it because I have done many Shenghen visas before that got their visa, so Linus was not a problem.
But after three weeks or so, when they sent him sms say he should come for his passport, he did not get the visa!
I was shocked! We did everything they asked for, more so, I have told you before that this is not the first time I am doing visa for people.
Ok, so I told Linus that he should not worry, that we will try again but he should wait for some time like the following year. He was not happy but he agreed. Meanwhile, after that, I have done so many visa for people and they got their visas and I tell Linus say, maybe his time has not come, that’s why.
Following year came, we try again. We applied to UK this time; I told him because he has a rejection on his passport, he will pay more when you have a rejection like that, the other visas will be difficult, so we have to get more papers, more things so that the first one will not contaminate the second one so that my connections can do a good job.
So I charged him N500,000 because now, I have to increase the people that will help me with the job but he said he has only N450,000. Ok, no wahala. Shebi it is help we want to help him. I got all the necessary documents, I helped him fill the form, I got the bank statements, everything, my sister, I got it. We did everything, in fact, when Linus was going, we prayed over his passport that it will not be rejected and we believed that this time around, he will get it.
Linus no get the visa o. after about 15 working days. He called me to say he is at visa office and he was very angry. He said I tricked him that he did not get the visa!
Why?
I don’t know. I was trying to calm him down but he was just abusing me, he was cursing me. He was very angry and me, I just stayed calm. I know it can be painful if you have put all your mind to going abroad and then you don’t get the visa. I know how that thing can be. So, but I was just begging him to come and show me the passport because I don’t understand it.
But he didn’t come that day, instead, it was his friend who contact me and said I should refund them their money.
How? Money that I have spread to all the people that helped us? So, how did we get all the documents that we used for him? I beg go and siddon somewhere. He is not the only one I have helped to procure visa, so what is this trouble?
Anyway, the person wey hin head no gree collect visa is not my fault. Some people will not get, because maybe the time has not come or maybe there is a problem with the officer that is conducting the interview or their head no gree go abroad. As for Linus, I think his head no gree go abroad, I don’t understand how he can bring me to court and say I should cough out N1,000,000 million!
-Series compiled and edited by Peju Akande and based on true stories.
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