When my father died, I logged into his emails and made a shocking discovery

When she picked up her phone to answer her brother’s call, Anike Wariebi didn’t expect such news: her father had died the night before. An announcement which had the effect of a hammer blow on the young woman. The death of a parent is always a significant event, but sometimes it reveals secrets we never imagined.

This is what happened to this British-Nigerian writer after the death of her father. By logging into her emails, she made a shocking discovery : his father, once a respected and successful man, had been the victim of a scam for several years that had destroyed his life.

“My father was a hero in my eyes”

Anike Wariebi remembers her father, Joshua Kayode Adepitan, as a charismatic, proud and ambitious man. Originally from a rural village in Nigeria, he had managed to build an empire thanks to two successful businesses: an airline and a furniture manufacturing factory. He was a role model for his children, passing on his values ​​and his passion for Yoruba history and culture.

But Joshua Kayode Adepitan’s life was turned upside down when the Nigerian economy collapsed under the weight of the military dictatorship. His businesses closed, and he gradually sank into loneliness and despair. His relationships deteriorated, and even his wife ended up leaving him. Anike Wariebi and her brother Femi, who were studying abroad, were helpless in the face of this descent into hell. “My father was a hero in my eyes”confides Anike Wariebi in the columns of Huff Post. “He had managed to rise to the top with his intelligence and ambition. Seeing his decline was a shock, but I thought he would eventually rise again.” Unfortunately, this was never the case.

“He was convinced that his family was plotting against him”

After their father’s death, Anike and Femi Wariebi discovered his Yahoo password, which led them to thousands of emails exchanged with a mysterious caller called « World Wide World Wide ». This faceless entity had manipulated their father for nearly two decades, using emotional and spiritual trickery techniques to keep him in its grip.

The scam was extremely well orchestrated. World Wide World Wide promised Joshua immense riches on condition that he make advance payments for “unblock” non-existent funds. Over time, the demands became more and more pressing. The interlocutor also exploited Joshua’s religious and cultural fears, isolating him from his loved ones under the pretext that they were responsible for his misfortunes through “spells” or “spiritual manipulation”. “He was convinced that his family was plotting against him”explains Anike Wariebi. “These emails were filled with veiled threats and empty promises, but my father believed every word.”

“My father was trapped in an illusion”

“By reading these emails, I understood that my father was trapped in an illusion,” says Anike. She describes the man she admired as a stranger transformed by fear and manipulation. The exchanges revealed the extent of the financial losses, but also the deep isolation in which Joshua had locked himself. This discovery allowed Anike and Femi to understand why their father had cut ties with his family and friends, and why he had spent his last years in a dingy motel room, far from the social circles he had once frequented.

“It wasn’t just a financial loss.”she writes. “It was a loss of himself. He had lost his dignity, his trust in others, and even his ability to love.

“I thought people had forgotten about it”

Despite the sadness and anger caused by this discovery, Anike and Femi Wariebi decided to honor their father with a traditional Yoruba burial.. Organizing a ceremony of this magnitude for a man who had lived as a recluse was not easy. They placed an ad in a local newspaper and enlisted the help of their childhood friends to reconnect with their community.

Against all odds, on the day of the ceremony, Joshua’s family and friends gathered to celebrate his life. Dressed in sumptuous royal blue aso oke attire, dozens of people took part in this moving day. Drums sounded as dancers led the funeral procession. Anike and Femi felt an unexpected relief: their father was finally reconnected to his family and his origins. “I thought people had forgotten him, but their presence reminded me that he had been loved and respected,” says Anike Wariebi. And added: “That day, I felt that we could finally turn the page.”

A universal lesson

Anike concludes her story with a reflection on human fragility. “My father was an intelligent and cultured man, but he was not immune to emotional and psychological exploitation.” Her story highlights the dangers of well-thought-out scams and highlights the importance of maintaining strong bonds with loved ones, even in difficult times.

This story, although tragic, also reminds us of the resilience of family love. Despite the hardships, Anike Wariebi and her brother Femi managed to offer their father a final tribute worthy of the man he once was. A gesture which, according to them, allowed them to make peace with their own pain and to turn the page on a dark chapter in their lives.