Canada asks Nigerian student to leave over fake 2016 admission letter

Due to a forged acceptance letter that she used to secure a work permit and study visa, Nigerian student Lola Akinlade has been requested to depart Canada by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Akinlade, who earned a diploma in social services from Nova Scotia Community College in 2019, talked to CBC News on Thursday about her bittersweet experience.

She claims that until she received a call from the IRCC a few weeks before to graduating from her new school, she was not aware that the acceptance letter given by an agent for the University of Regina in 2016 was a fake.

The mother of two said that she experienced mixed emotions upon receiving her graduation because she realised that she had reportedly relied on a fake document to obtain her study permit, adding, “I was devastated. That was the beginning of my trauma.”
She stated, "When the IRCC contacted me, I requested that they 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," in an interview with the Canadian news platform.

"Please check the file I have. All I want is for things to be handled.

Akinlade, who holds a business administration degree from a Nigerian university, said that she began the process of moving to travel to and study in Canada in 2015 while she was employed as a medical sales representative for a pharmaceutical company in Lagos.

She related how she had met a man in her office posing as an immigration adviser and offering to help her with the application process to become an international student by applying for a master’s degree in business administration.
Akinlade clarified that she just told the agency that she wished to attend a respectable Canadian university, not a specific one.

She explained how she paid the agent and gave him paperwork, including her passport and transcripts from her institution. He gave her airline tickets, a study permission for Canada, and an admission letter from the University of Regina a few months later.

"I planned to begin classes in January 2017 when I took a flight to Canada in late December 2016." But on my way to Regina, I was halted in Winnipeg when I got a call from the agent informing me that the institution was full and that I would have to waitlist.

After coming to Canada, she looked for a new program and school on her own. She lived with relatives in Winnipeg until September 2017, when she was admitted into Nova Scotia Community College's social services program.

She claimed that social services was a better fit for her career after leaving the medical industry.

Akinlade claimed that it took her two years to get in touch with the University of Regina after learning through a letter from the IRCC that the acceptance letter was fraudulent.

After reading the IRCC letter, she admitted, "I was sceptical, thinking it might be a misunderstanding or something." I so got in touch with the University of Regina right away.

She continued, "And that's when I found out the truth."

In the meanwhile, when CBC ontacted the agent, Babatunde Isiaq Adegoke, he confirmed providing Akinlade with the acceptance letter but said it was supplied by a company located in Ejigbo, Lagos State, called Success Academy Education Consult, which he had hired.
After exchanging texts with CBC, Adegoke claimed to have helped Akinlade with the application procedure for entry into Canada. He refuted saying Akinlade would have to waitlist at the University of Regina, though.

A bogus letter caused Akinlade to lose her study permission in Canada. She also tried to apply for a postgraduate employment permit but was turned down as well as a temporary resident permit but was turned down.

In a letter to Akinlade dated March 2023, an IRCC officer stated that the agency thought she knew the document was forged "on the balance of probabilities."

After joining her in Nova Scotia in 2018, her husband Samson Akinlade and their eight-year-old son David, who was born in Nigeria, have since lost their temporary residency status. Although their youngest son, born in 2021, is a citizen of Canada, his parents' immigration status prevents him from receiving health insurance.