Lola Akinlade, a Nigerian student in Canada, along with her family, has been ordered to leave Canada by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) after it was discovered that the acceptance letter she used to obtain her study visa and work permit was fraudulent.
Akinlade, who graduated from Nova Scotia Community College with a diploma in Social Services in 2019, shared her ordeal with CBC News on Thursday, revealing the shock and trauma she felt upon learning that her Canadian study permit was based on a fake document. According to her, she had no prior knowledge of the situation.
In 2015, while working as a medical sales representative in Lagos, Nigeria, Akinlade was approached by a man claiming to be an immigration consultant. He offered to help her secure admission to a reputable Canadian university for a master’s degree in business administration. Trusting the consultant, she handed over her documents, including her passport and university transcripts, and paid his fee.
Several months later, the consultant provided her with a study permit, plane tickets, and an acceptance letter from the University of Regina.
In December 2016, Akinlade arrived in Canada, ready to begin classes in January 2017, but was met with some unexpected news.
“I flew to Canada in late December, expecting to start classes in January. 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.
Left stranded, Akinlade stayed with relatives in Winnipeg and began searching for a new school. By September 2017, she was accepted at Nova Scotia Community College, where she pursued a diploma in social services, a field that aligned with her medical background.
It wasn’t until two years later, just weeks before her graduation, that Akinlade received a letter from the IRCC, revealing that her University of Regina acceptance letter was fake.
“I was devastated. That was the beginning of my trauma,” she told said. “I immediately contacted the University of Regina and learned the truth.”
Akinlade requested the IRCC to re-examine her case, arguing that she was a victim of a rogue agent. “Please review my file. I just want this to be resolved,” she pleaded.
When contacted by the press, the agent, Babatunde Isiaq Adegoke, admitted to providing Akinlade with the acceptance letter but claimed it was supplied by a company in Lagos called Success Academy Education Consult, which he had hired. Adegoke denied telling Akinlade she would be waitlisted at the University of Regina.
Due to the fraudulent acceptance letter, Akinlade’s study permit was revoked, and her applications for a postgraduate work permit and a temporary resident permit were denied. In March 2023, an IRCC officer concluded that Akinlade knew the document was fake “on the balance of probabilities.”
Akinlade’s husband, Samson, and their eight-year-old son, David, who joined her in Nova Scotia in 2018, have now also lost their temporary resident status. Their younger son, born in Canada in 2021, has Canadian citizenship but is without medical coverage due to his parents’ precarious status. The entire family now faces deportation back home to Nigeria, which finds itself in a heated battle against bad governance.
