Nigerian Family Asked to Leave Canada Over Fake Acceptance Letter

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has ordered Nigerian student Lola Akinlade to leave the country due to a fake acceptance letter she used to obtain her study visa and work permit.

EKO HOT BLOG gathered that Akinlade, who graduated with a diploma in Social Services from Nova Scotia Community College in 2019, shared her distressing experience with CBC News on Thursday.

She revealed that she was unaware the acceptance letter, provided by an agent for the University of Regina in 2016, was fake until IRCC contacted her a few weeks before she graduated from her new institution.

Upon receiving her diploma, Akinlade felt both joy and anxiety upon realizing she had unknowingly relied on a fraudulent document to secure her study permit. She described this revelation as the start of her trauma.

In an interview with CBC News, Akinlade explained, “When IRCC contacted me, I requested them to re-examine my case, arguing that I was a victim of a ‘rogue agent’ who supplied me with a fake acceptance letter to the Canadian school. Please review my file. I just want this to be resolved.”

Akinlade’s journey to study in Canada began in 2015 while she was working as a medical sales representative at a pharmaceutical company in Lagos, with a business administration degree from a Nigerian university. She met a man at her office who claimed to be an immigration consultant and offered to guide her through the process of becoming an international student by applying for a master’s degree in business administration.

She did not specify a particular university to the agent, only stating her desire to study at a reputable Canadian institution. She provided the agent with documents such as her passport and university transcripts, along with payment. Several months later, he provided her with a study permit for Canada, plane tickets, and an acceptance letter from the University of Regina.

“I flew to Canada in late December 2016, expecting to start classes in January 2017. However, I was stopped in Winnipeg en route to Regina when I received a call from the agent, who told me there were no spaces available at the university and that I would have to go on a waitlist,” Akinlade recounted.

Upon arriving in Canada, she began searching independently for a new school and program, staying with relatives in Winnipeg until she was accepted at Nova Scotia Community College for social services, starting in September 2017. She chose social services because it aligned better with her previous work in the medical field.

Akinlade did not contact the University of Regina directly until two years later, when she received a letter from IRCC informing her that the acceptance letter was fake.

“I was skeptical after receiving the IRCC letter, thinking it might be a misunderstanding or something,” she said. “So, I immediately contacted the University of Regina. And that was when I learned the truth.”

When CBC contacted the agent, Babatunde Isiaq Adegoke, he confirmed providing Akinlade with the acceptance letter but said it was supplied by a company in Ejigbo, Lagos State, called Success Academy Education Consult, which he had hired. Adegoke guided Akinlade through the process of applying to enter Canada but denied telling her that she would have to go on a waitlist at the University of Regina.

Akinlade lost her study permit in Canada due to the fake letter and was denied when she attempted to apply for a postgraduate work permit and a temporary resident permit. In March 2023, an IRCC officer wrote to Akinlade, stating that the department believed she knew the document was fake “on the balance of probabilities.”

Her husband, Samson Akinlade, and their eight-year-old Nigerian-born son, David, joined her in Nova Scotia in 2018 but have now lost their temporary resident status. Their younger son, born in Canada in 2021, has Canadian citizenship but lacks medical coverage due to his parents’ status.