He was a doctor. He spoke calmly, seemed credible, and had a WhatsApp group and a company name to go with the pitch. That was all it took.
Seventy-five Nigerians handed their savings to Dr. Nekebari Nathan Dambere, a Port Harcourt physician who presented himself as a caregiver trainer with the connections to land clients jobs and visas in Canada, Ireland and the United States. Between April and December 2023, the money flowed in. The visas never came.
They Sold Everything
The victims did not just write checks. They dismantled their lives to raise the money. Some sold land. Some vacated their own apartments and rented them out to generate cash. Others went to family members or moneylenders. The fees demanded ran from N3 million to N12 million per person.
One victim, identified only as Mr. Promise, paid N11 million and resigned from his job to prepare for the relocation. He also pulled his younger brother into the deal, telling him it was a golden opportunity. It was not.
A source close to Mr. Promise said the fallout has been severe. The man is now ill, cannot cover his children’s school fees, and moves between Port Harcourt and his village scraping together what he can to survive. His younger brother lost money too.
In total, the victims say they lost more than N100 million combined.
EFCC Drags Doctor Before Federal Court
The Port Harcourt Zonal Directorate of the EFCC arraigned Dambere on June 19, 2025, alongside his firm, Global Horizons Academy Ltd, before Justice P.I. Ajoku of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, on a one-count charge of obtaining money by false pretence and advance fee fraud totaling N39,157,000.
The charge alleged the offence took place between April 8 and December 12, 2023. Dambere pleaded not guilty. The court remanded him in EFCC custody and adjourned the bail hearing to June 25, with trial set for November 27.
The EFCC said Dambere had allegedly approached Riskout Consults, a company run by Justice Toojah Iyieagbu, and convinced enrolled students he could arrange their relocation abroad and register them for IELTS examinations. After collecting tens of millions, he allegedly delivered nothing and went silent.
The Doctor’s Own Explanation
When reached for comment, Dambere did not deny the money. He acknowledged he is not a travel agent but insisted he is a travel trainer, a distinction his victims do not find particularly meaningful.
He said clients paid money through him to middlemen, some in Nigeria, some abroad, and that those middlemen are now “talking of paying back the money in percentage.” He did not offer a specific timeline for when any refund might happen.
His lawyer, Barr. Stanley Princewill, said Dambere had actually begun repaying victims before they took the matter to the EFCC, and argued that the legal pressure has now made recovery harder.
“I feel for these people. Some of them sold their assets, some rented out their apartments,” Princewill said.
“But they should also support this young man to pursue and recover the money for them. They should not frustrate the process of recovery by consistently threatening the man.”
He maintained that his client’s actual business is training caregivers, not processing visas.
He Deleted the Group and Opened a New One
What hardened the anger of the victims was not just the loss of money. It was what Dambere allegedly did when it became clear the visas were not materializing. According to multiple victims, he quietly deleted the WhatsApp group he had created for existing clients and opened a brand new one to recruit fresh victims into the same scheme.
“With his soft voice and mien posture, no one could imagine that this whole arrangement was a scam,” one victim said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We were all given the impression that the whole thing would come so fast and we believed him. We sold our property to raise the money. Some of us rented out our apartments and even borrowed to pay him. I don’t trust the process again.”
Another victim cut straight to it: “What I want now is my money. I don’t need his visa or documentation again. Anything that will work does not take this long.”
Police Petitioned, Refund Still Uncertain
The victims have since filed a petition with the Rivers State Police Command calling for a full investigation and the recovery of their funds.
Police spokesperson Grace Iringe-Koko said she needed time to review the files before commenting officially.
Dambere is said to have been in hiding for much of last year, which has made communication difficult and tested whatever patience remained among the people waiting on their money.
The case reflects a wider trend the EFCC has been working to address. The commission established a dedicated Immigration Fraud Section across its zonal commands in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano after a surge in visa-related fraud cases targeting Nigerians looking to relocate abroad.
The commission’s then-chairman, Ola Olukoyede, said in 2024 that the section was set up specifically because the volume of immigration fraud had grown to a point where it required dedicated attention.
Seventy-five families in Port Harcourt are still waiting to see whether any of that attention translates into their money coming back.
