kirikiri
prison, Joy Ugwu Nnenne, the reigning Asaigbo pageant queen, still
radiates and commands the aura and influence of ‘royalty’.
The
poster girl that she is has become a star among fellow inmates at the
Kirikiri Prison, Lagos, where she has been remanded by a magistrate
court over alleged fraud.
The
prisoners referred to her as “Queen”, due to the large number of
visitors she played host to daily, while other times she is called
“MMM”, an allusion to the charge that brought her to prison.
Saturday
Sun on June 17, 2017, reported the case of Joy, the current beauty
queen of Asaigbo pageantry, who is on remand in Kirikiri prison for
allegedly fleecing Jonathan Nwogu, Anita Oby and others of N7million.
She
was alleged to have resorted to hide-and-seek tactics after failing to
secure a visa for Nwogu, after the latter reportedly paid a million
naira to her. She is also accused of defrauding Oby of N2 million
through a ponzi scheme called “Me and You” purportedly floated by the
former.
The
incarcerated beauty queen gave her side of the story in an exclusive
interview when Saturday Sun visited her inside the Kirikiri female
prison on Wednesday June 21. Debunking the allegations against her as
false, she claimed her traducers, counting on her propensity to protect
her social image, were out to intimidate her to quietly pay them and
settle the matter.
Affirming
her innocence, she emphasised she also lost money to the ponzi scheme,
and that is the reason she is emboldened to exercise her civil right in
opting for the court after spending three days in the cell at the State
Crime Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba.
“I
didn’t create the ‘Me and You scheme’, I was just a participant like
her (Oby),” she insisted. “Do I look like someone who can do so, when I
have not finished studying my Accounting?”
She went on:
“When
they told me to pay up, I was reluctant because I didn’t see any crime
in the scheme. I can only be guilty if I created the scheme, which I
didn’t. I told them that I could only pay back if they try to get the
person I paid to, one Emmanuel Madu. I paid him two million naira. I
showed them the transfer record, it is a recycled process.”
She
pointed out the inconsistency in the charges against her at the court:
“When I got to court, I was arraigned for N2m while I was arrested for a
charge of N7m. I intend to battle this when I regain my freedom.”
On the visa fraud charge, her accuser, Nwogu had told Saturday Sun: “The
girl duped me one million naira and the evidence is there…What baffled
me was the way she took the matter. It was quite obvious that she
defrauded me.”
Joy
Ugwu rebutted this as outright lie. On the day I was arrested, I
confronted him, asking if he knew me before, but he didn’t. So, how did
we do visa business? They were all participants in the Ponzi scheme. He
happened to be on the losing side. Oby had vowed that she was going to
deal with me if I don’t pay up because she is connected to the high and
mighty.”
She
went further: “They said something about the money in my account. The
money belongs to people and I have paid them back. I don’t have any
money to pay anybody.”
Queen among inmates
Being
incarcerated did not diminish her. She is still radiant and has even
acquired some popularity among the inmates. To both wardress and
inmates, she is “Queen”––due to the number of visitors she has daily––
or “MMM”, in reference to the circumstances that brought her into the
prison. As she walked away from the reporter, a group of friends crowded
around her demanding to know what news she brought from her visitation.
“She is a nice girl. I don’t think anybody has any complaint about her,” an anonymous inmate told Saturday Sun.
Why we won’t dethrone her
Saturday Sun also contacted Mike Akubueze, the organiser of Asaigbo pageantry, for his view on the development.
According
to him, as long as she didn’t commit any crime in the name of the
pageantry, Joy Nnenne Ugwu would still be paraded as their queen.
According to him:
“What
she did was her personal business. She didn’t commit crime with
Asaigbo. We are not involved with anything she does with her personal
life. She is 18 years. We don’t monitor our queens.”
Also
saying her accusers are capitalising on her social status to intimidate
her, he said: “Joy didn’t commit any crime. Everybody did MMM,
including even me. So, she is entitled to do a personal business.”
He reiterated: “We
won’t dethrone her. Until the case is concluded, she is still Asaigbo
queen. Even after that, we would undertake our own investigation.”
It
is expected that Joy Ugwu will be freed soon since the delay of her
bail was due to the absence of the magistrate in charge of her case, who
went on a casual leave.
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