Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has demanded that Nigerian student Lola Akinlade leave the country after discovering she used a fraudulent acceptance letter to obtain a study visa and work permit.
Akinlade, who graduated with a diploma in Social Services from Nova Scotia Community College in 2019, shared her distressing story with CBC News.
Akinlade explained that she was unaware of the letter’s falsity until she was contacted by the IRCC just weeks before her graduation. “I was devastated. That was the beginning of my trauma,” she told CBC. The acceptance letter was provided by an agent for the University of Regina in 2016, but Akinlade later learned it was fake.
In response to the IRCC’s request for her to leave, Akinlade pleaded for a reconsideration of her case, arguing that she was misled by a “rogue agent” who provided the fake document. “Please review my file. I just want this to be resolved,” she said.
Akinlade’s journey to Canada began in 2015 while she was working as a medical sales representative in Lagos.
She met an individual claiming to be an immigration consultant who offered to help her apply for a master’s degree in business administration. She did not specify a university, merely indicating she wanted to study at a reputable Canadian institution.
After providing the agent with necessary documents and payment, she received a study permit, plane tickets, and an acceptance letter from the University of Regina.
However, upon arriving in Canada in December 2016, she was informed by the agent that no spaces were available at the university, forcing her to wait.
She eventually found a new school, Nova Scotia Community College, and began her studies in September 2017, choosing a program in social services that matched her background in the medical field.
Akinlade only discovered the acceptance letter was fake when the IRCC contacted her two years later. Initially skeptical, she later confirmed the truth with the University of Regina.
When CBC reached out to the agent, Babatunde Isiaq Adegoke, he admitted to providing the fake letter but claimed it was from Success Academy Education Consult in Lagos, which he had employed. Adegoke denied telling Akinlade she would need to waitlist at the university.
As a result of the fraudulent letter, Akinlade lost her study permit and was denied when applying for a postgraduate work permit and a temporary resident permit.
In March 2023, the IRCC informed her that they believed she was aware of the document’s falsity.
Her husband, Samson Akinlade, and their eight-year-old son, David, who joined her in Nova Scotia in 2018, have now lost their temporary resident status.
Their younger son, born in Canada in 2021, is a Canadian citizen but lacks medical coverage due to his parents’ status.
