Ex-419 kingpin, Ade Bendel breaks silence

Generally regarded as a charismatic con-artist, Chief Adedeji Alumile, a.k.a Ade Bendel, has admitted that he made restitution to those he offended long ago in the course of his involvement in duping and sundry scams.
According to him, “I had to personally go after those that I retained their contacts, begged them for forgiveness and even made monetary donations. They were all amazed at the gestures. Ade Bendel who is now a pastor, leads a church, Chapel of Liberty, with headquarters in Abuja, Lagos and Kirikiri Maximum Prisons where he was once a detainee.
Reacting to a poser on whether he paid restitutions to those he swindled or not, he said, “Of course, I sold a couple of houses I built with the proceeds of fraud and gave out the proceeds freely to rightthe wrongs.In other words, it was away of appeasing those that had been tragically short- changed. Then, I have been begging God for forgiveness of my sins,” he said.
He also disclosed that his meeting “with the Lord Jesus Christ” while in detention in Kirikiri Maximum Prisons in Lagos opened his eyes to the effect that, he had advertently offended a lot of people inthe course of his unwholesome business dealings.
“I some what fell into a trance while being held in the prison. It was a turning point in my life. It was then I suddenly realised that instead of shaping the world to the glory of my creator, I simply reveled in misadventure,thinking that I was the best thing to happen to my generation.
“I saw myself as the smartest guy, riding the best of cars, sleeping with the most beautiful women, lavishing money on mundane things that money could buy. But little did I realise that somethingwasmissing inmylife.Iwas. sordidly missing the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Come to think of it; I slept in the best hotels, drove the best of cars, wore designers’; dresses. My best shoes were Paciotti, Versace and what have you. But one day, in the course of reading a verse in the Holy Bible, shortly after which I played a Squash game with a co-detainee at one ofthe recreational facilities within the thick walls, it came to my mind that,the world itself is vanity.
“The matter was compounded when another detainee died.It could have been me or any other prominent person for that matter. This time round, almost all my cars had been commandeeredby the anti-graft agency knownasEFCC. In Kirikiri as a detainee, you cannot drive cars; you cannot swim in those specially built swimming pools. So, this realisation was in a sharp contrast to my initial belief that I should possess my possessions,” he recalled.