On the surface fashion runways and show business appear to be every parent?s dream ? children strutting in designer outfits on the runway, and young adults gracing exotic photo shoots and blockbuster films. However, behind the scenes, some parents are making shocking allegations against a Lagos-based fashion and talent hunt show promoter, writes VICTOR AYENI

Sitting on a blue plastic chair, with her hands folded tightly across her chest, the 30-year-old shook her feet nervously as she briefly pressed her mobile phone.

She seemed distant and lost in thoughts; a glint of sadness could be seen in her eyes as she looked across the room.

Clad in a long, flowing brown outfit, the mother of one, who preferred to be called Anike, fought back tears as she recounted to our correspondent her painful experience which had altered her life in the past three months.

An up-and-coming actor, Anike?s heart had leapt for joy when she found an advert flyer by a Lagos-based talent hunt agency, on Instagram. The ad called for applicants who were eager to become the next big movie stars.

Adorned with a photo of a popular Nollywood star, the flyer provided instructions for online registration, which would qualify applicants for a scheduled oral interview as aspiring actors, models, or TV hosts.

This mouth-watering offer not only sounded legitimate to Anike but also had the allure of elevating her career. However, she soon discovered it was too good to be true.

?After registering online, I received an email asking me to come to Tiamiyu Street at VI for an interview,? Anike told Sunday PUNCH.

?At the venue, I met with other applicants who were also present for the interview. A lady there asked me to pay N10,000 for a form and I did. After paying, I was told that I needed to register again and if I qualified, I would appear on many TV projects, African Magic, and photo shoots ? all those enticing things.

?Then, I was introduced to two types of packages. There is N85,000 for a standard package and N250,000 for a premium package. I went for the N85,000 package, but I told them I didn?t have the money with me, so they said I could pay N20,000 now and balance up within 15 days.?

On the third day, Anike allegedly received a message which invited her to a sports camp situated at the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation housing estate in Ogba.

One of the staff members of the agency, identified as Ada, took the intending actors and models, numbering about 15, to another house within the estate. It was there Anike said she first met the founder of the talent hunt agency, identified simply as Al-Ameen.

Recounting what allegedly happened there, Anike said, ?We had a rehearsal and were given some film scripts to read. Later that evening, Al-Ameen told one of the ladies working with him, Mariam, to call each of us into his room for further rehearsals. But I was not included.

?When it was my turn, Al-Ameen asked the other girls to go to bed and called me into the room. There was a bed in the room but it wasn?t big. He asked if I was romantic.

?I was surprised because I have been an actor for four years and I had my fourth production in March this year. I can act in any role and switch from one character to another.

?He asked about my age and marital role and I answered him. He then stood up and moved the table in the room against the door to prevent it from being opened. He asked me to stand up and said, ?Now, I want to see if you are romantic.??

The 36-year-old show promoter allegedly switched on a blue light bulb in the room and ordered Anike to use him as her actor and be romantic towards him.

?I was speaking romantic words to him, but he interrupted me, saying I was not saying anything new, and before I could say anything else, he pushed me to the bed, used one of his hands to cover my mouth, and used his other hand to roll up my gown and he forced himself into me.

?As I was struggling with him, one of the other girls there, Lucy (not real name) knocked on the door and said she forgot her phone charger when she came to the room earlier. Babatunde went out of the room to talk to her and by then, I had stood up from the bed.

?When he returned to the room, he began to say denigrating things to me. I was traumatised. I shut myself in a toilet beside the room and cleaned myself. I couldn?t sleep that night, I kept thinking of my husband and feeling ashamed,? Anike said, as she broke down in tears.

Like moth to flame

Investigations by Sunday PUNCH revealed that the talent show frequently accepts male and female applicants between the ages of two and 15 to participate as models in upcoming runway shows and exhibitions.

The talent-hunting agency specialises in seeking aspiring actors, models and singers and on its Instagram page, it showcases a wide array of videos and photos featuring children and teenage models striking elegant poses, dressed in vibrant and colourful costumes.

When our correspondent clicked on a link provided next to a 2023 flyer by the firm inviting applications for models and actors, he was directed to a private WhatsApp chat.

In one of its recent Instagram posts, the agency noted that the fashion editions would feature ?professional runway, top and pro models, creative designers, exhibition and trade fair, award and recognition, red carpets, media/press and masterclass.?

However, none of the applicants or parents who registered their children could confirm to our correspondent whether the fashion exhibitions ever took place.

Parents alleged that they were repeatedly given postponement excuses, and most were eventually removed from the agency?s WhatsApp platforms by Al-Ameen for trivial reasons.

After the registration process, the male applicants who applied to be models are allegedly accommodated in hotels, while the female applicants ?many of whom are minors ? are housed and fed for about three days in a sports arena camp, where the show promoter allegedly has unrestricted access to them.

Anike told our correspondent that although she kept her rape experience to herself, she learned from some of the teenagers in the camp that Al-Ameen had allegedly sexually assaulted them also.

?This was what prompted me to report the case at Alagbon Police Station,? she added.

?He told me not to resist?

One of the teenagers who was allegedly molested by Al-Ameen at the same camp as Anike was a 14-year-old girl.

She had reportedly seen the children?s fashion show advert on Instagram in June this year and showed it to her parents who encouraged her because she had told them she wanted to be a model.

After filling out some forms and sending her photo with a WhatsApp number using her mother?s phone, the teenager was allegedly asked to come to spend three days at the LSDPC camp.

?After my mum took me to the camp and left in the evening, they showed us our rooms for the night. I noticed that our rooms had no keys, so we couldn?t lock the doors ourselves but Mr Al-Ameen?s room had a key and lock.

?That same evening, he called me into his room, saying that he wanted to take my measurement. When I went in, he locked the door and ordered me to sit on his bed and lie down, I didn?t understand why. He brought out his phone, a book and a pen and removed my undies.

?I saw flashes of light from his phone and I think he took pictures of me down there. Then he started touching me and I said, ?Sir, why are you touching me like that, please I don?t like it. I thought you wanted to take my measurement,?? she told Sunday PUNCH.

On the second day, the 36-year-old allegedly called the teenager again into his room and allegedly told her to act like she was with a kidnapper who was trying to molest her.

?While I was trying to act, he started touching my body again and I begged him to stop,? the teenager said as she fought back tears.

After leaving the camp, the teenager allegedly still attended rehearsals organised by the agency for two weeks when her parents reportedly received another message from Al-Ameen informing them that the girls would have another camp session.

She further disclosed, ?I told my mummy that I wanted to go and she took me there. This camp is located at VI and he (Al-Ameen) collected all of our phones and we were divided into four different rooms. The younger girls were sleeping in Aunty Ada?s room.

?On that first day, he called me into his room again. There was no power supply in the room that night. He made me sit on the bed and told me that I should act like I had powers and was kidnapped by some men. He told me to lie in bed like my hands were tied by the kidnappers.

?He said he would act as the kidnapper molesting me but I shouldn?t physically resist him, instead I should use my inner powers to push him away. He removed my pants, laid on me and put his thing into me and I tried to struggle, telling him that I didn?t like it. When he was done, he ordered me to stand up and then I saw some whitish, sticky thing on my body,? the teenager added.

He molested my nine-year-old daughter ? Mother

When Mrs Soladoye (surname withheld) first heard about the children?s fashion exhibition in June, she said she never imagined that something negative would happen to her nine-year-old daughter but for some odd reason, she kept feeling something was off.

Soladoye said, ?After registering and paying a total of N310,000, I was sent the camp address at VI and I took my daughter there. But I just couldn?t leave her because I didn?t trust the process of leaving her all with strangers. I kept feeling uneasy about it, so I waited.

?Al-Ameen told me he would be absent from the premises because he has delegated the training of the girls to coaches who are all mothers. He kept insisting that all the parents should leave. They said a parent had volunteered to wait and watch the children. I went to the woman and asked, ?Are you the parent waiting?? and she said ?Yes.?

?It was because of that I decided to go home. I left the place at 10 pm that day. I didn?t know it was a setup to deceive parents. It was later we knew that this woman, called Maria, was probably Al-Ameen?s girlfriend, yet she was fronting as a parent. In one of the videos they use for adverts, Maria too posed as a parent.

?During the training, parents like myself praised the programme because we didn?t know what he was up to. This man waited for us to go home and came back there to call these children into his room. This man told my daughter to lay on the bed and play dead and he molested her!?

In a sad tone, the nine-year-old said, ?He (Al-Ameen) called me over to the couch and told me to lie down straight and I did it.

?He told me to raise my legs in an open position and he told me to close my eyes, but I didn?t really close them, I was opening them a little because I wanted to see what he was doing.

?I was wearing only my pyjamas and shorts because it was night and he opened my clothes and put on his torchlight to look into my shorts, then when he was done he asked me to stand up and go.?

?He grabbed my breasts?

An aspiring actor, who preferred to be called Catherine, who applied at the talent-hunting also told Sunday PUNCH that after paying N250,000, she was allegedly invited to a script conference at the academy.

The 26-year-old alleged that after the script session, Al-Ameen invited her to a mini-conference room.

?He told me about the five categories of acting and said he would like to see how romantic I could be. He said I should stand up and come sit on his lap. That, to me, was very weird but I went along with it.

?Thinking that being romantic was about words, I was saying romantic lines to him and he started rubbing my back and before I knew it, his hands went towards my boobs and he grabbed my breasts. I shifted away from him and he said he would test me another time, so he let me go,? Catherine recalled.

Not giving up in his attempt, Al-Ameen allegedly called her into another private office and unbuttoned her jeans, but when she resisted his advances, he allegedly insulted her.

?He said I?m too difficult, unprofessional, unintentional, and I can?t make it in the industry. He said lots of derogatory words to me. He said the industry could even involve me getting naked but I told him I had boundaries and I won?t cross them. So he told me to leave,? Catherine added.

Also narrating her ordeal, Oghenetejiri, another woman, alleged that she paid N135,000 to the agency in November 2023, for a fashion exhibition scheduled for November 19, 2023.

However, the event was never held as it was repeatedly postponed, causing frustration and uncertainty among participants.

?I got a message via their WhatsApp platform that I was selected for a campaign shoot amongst other designers. Only to get there and there was no such thing.

?When it got to my turn, Al-Ameen started harassing me sexually until one Mr Week walked in and he (Al-Ameen) quickly told him that I said I wouldn?t be investing. Because I refused to invest, he told me I would no longer be eligible for the campaign shoot,? Oghenetejiri stated.

Financial extortions

In addition to the troubling allegations of sexual harassment against Al-Ameen, numerous victims also accused him of financial extortion.

?I applied as a designer at the fashion show they advertised and they asked me to show up at a location with two of my designs. They presented me with their packages and their prices and the least they sent was N250,000 but this man had earlier told my friend that it was N200,000.

?He kept pestering me to pay quickly and that made me suspicious. After I paid N200,000, Al-Ameen brought up another issue. He said I had to pay N30,000 for the welfare of the models.

?When I questioned this, he removed me from the WhatsApp platform and when I complained on his Instagram account, he began to threaten me. Up till now, he hasn?t refunded me,? Elizabeth told Sunday PUNCH.

A parent, Identified only as Mrs Esther, also lamented that after she registered her daughter for the fashion exhibition in April, she paid N250,000 for a premium package, yet, Al-Ameen allegedly demanded an extra N30,000 for a photo shoot.

She said, ?Later, he said we should pay another N100,000 for Netflix, Rock TV, and billboard. When the billboard came out, I didn?t see my daughter?s photo. According to the agreement in the flyer, the N250,000 was supposed to cover the runway which was scheduled to take place in August but it never took place.

?When I complained about the money I had paid which was a total of N490,000, Al-Ameen became very rude. He shouted at me and said I was giving him a headache. He tried to compel me to sign a form but I didn?t sign it and for that, he expelled me from the group platform. When I asked for a refund, he said he didn?t owe me anything.?

Sharing evidence of her transactions, another parent, Mrs Akinwande, said her two daughters were enrolled for a TV project and she paid N440,000 but both girls were allegedly removed by Al-Ameen without any refund.

Checks by Sunday PUNCH also found two prior newspaper reports accusing the show promoter of defrauding five fashion brands.

Arrest and trial

Sunday PUNCH learned that Al-Ameen?s matter was reported to the Gnosis Help Initiative, which in turn wrote a petition to the Commissioner of Police, who then directed the Gender Section of the command to investigate the matter.

On August 29, the founder of the talent show was arrested at his academy and was detained at the police command for interrogation over his alleged conduct.

During his interrogation, our correspondent learnt that more victims allegedly showed up and reported how he allegedly sexually harassed them by touching their private parts.

Threatening victims? mothers

Although the show promoter was said to be in detention, the nightmare of some parents of the victims is not yet over as they reportedly received threatening messages from him.

A part of a message sent to Mrs Soladoye read, ?If you cannot determine your destiny, you think you can undermine my efforts by useless and baseless conspiracy? You and I know there is more to this, not about your daughter only. Last, last, everyone will die, abi you won?t die? All of us will die one day!

?The idiot Yoruba lawyer you guys hired who never did a diligent investigation and called himself an NGO firm, tell him; the next time he threatens my family illegally, he will be in hell.?

He added, ?I?m sure of myself and I?m sure many of you will be arrested soon. Everyone will pay the price o, war for war now.?

In another message sent to another parent, Mrs Akinwande, which was seen by our correspondent, Al-Ameen wrote, ?Let me start by saying you have proven to be very foolish, yes, that?s the right word for you. You traded your children?s future for conspiracy with Igbos against me?

?You people think you can torment me? I only fear God. I?m not even afraid of death not to talk of mere women like you. Everyone will die at the end.?

Al-Ameen responds

When Sunday PUNCH reached out to the suspect using the phone number with which he sent the messages, and listed the allegations against him, he accused the women of lying and trying to shut down his company because their children were removed from the fashion show.

He said, ?If you read this carefully, you?ll understand as a man that these women are a bunch of evils. The same people hired an NGO to fight me. They are doing everything to shut the company down.

?Why? Because their children were removed from the show after they failed to sign the contract agreement. All these cases were submitted to a magistrate?s court and there was no evidence. They are all liars and soon, they will be arrested for all the damages they have caused.

?The magistrate set me free on bail and the case adjourned till October 24. Why can?t they pack their evidence to the court next month? I can swear to God that these people are liars and evil because they lost the chance to roll with us and now they don?t want other people to benefit from the show and organisation.?

Al-Ameen further alleged that the ladies who accused him of sexual assault had requested N3m from him.

He said, ?Those two adult ladies that claimed they were harassed, they took me to Alagbon and the police did their research but they couldn?t find anything against me. They set me free. The girls were requesting a ransom of N3m from me. You see the blackmail?

?I swear to God, I?ve never raped anyone in my life before. I can never do it till I die. They said I?m too disciplined, I?m too harsh and I don?t allow them to misbehave. Please tell me, how can my business grow if I?m not strict?

?I?ve been suffering to build companies for almost 13 years now, the economy is harsh, and everything is not easy but yet these people want to make me suffer unnecessarily. They just want to kill me, they want me to fail and they don?t want me to exist anymore.

?All the plans they have done at the police station, court, everything has been failing because God is working in my favour. Now they want to defame me.?

The show promoter forwarded four videos to our correspondent. In the videos, several parents could be seen giving positive reviews of the fashion show in which their children participated.

?Those same parents are the ones inside. Most of their children are there (in the videos). If truly I was bad, why did they give the testimonies? Everything they paid for was done, I even overdid it. We have all the evidence.

?Over 20 sessions of training, photo shoots, video shoots, short film shoots, billboard advert. Please, didn?t we spend money on all these things? See, the truth will prevail soon and God will make a way. We have over 30 videos made for their children which includes projects, trainings, shoot and short films.

?Please, understand that these people are evil-doers and they are trying to pull a man down. We?ve been talking to some of their husbands and they said they were not aware of these atrocious things from their wives. Women are wicked!? he added. (Sunday PUNCH)

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