Kester lost her husband in a fatal motor accident in 2015. She was only 31 at the time and the union was barely three years.
The tragedy dealt a brutal blow to her lofty dreams of building a home with her loving husband, who bore a chunk of their family responsibilities.
She was inconsolable as the burden of catering to their two daughters fell squarely on her fragile frame.
The Anambra State indigene never believed she would become a widow at such a young age.
But since life could be cruel at times, she picked up herself and soldiered on.
After eight years of loneliness, she thought it was time to move on with life, so she joined a WhatsApp group for singles.
That was where she met Amarah Kennedy, a businessman who claimed to be resident in the Apapa area of Lagos State.
It was in January 2023 and their hearts fluttered, as Kennedy showered Kester and her kids with gifts and money.
“He supported me sometimes with N10,000 and other times N5,000,” Kester added, as she recalled the start of the relationship.
What she, however, did not know was that trouble was lurking.
According to her, in March, Kennedy requested to borrow N30,000 from her, promising to pay back the following day.
Kester said because of his benevolence towards her, she was quick to respond to his need.
However, she became worried when he did not send back the money the following day until she initiated a call to demand a refund.
Two days afterwards, he sent back the money.
Kester said she observed that despite his regular visits to her house, he did not allow her to visit him at his purported residence at Apapa.
“He would say I should not bother coming. I did not push further because I was also a busy person,” she added.
Trouble started on May 2 when Kester said she got a voice note from Kennedy seeking a loan of N80,000 to make some supplies.
According to her, he promised to return the money the following day.
She noted that although she did not have such an amount of money, she decided to borrow funds meant for her sister’s surgical operation.
On the due date, she said Kennedy did not return the money; instead, he started making excuses.
Kester told our correspondent that she became worried and reported to a mutual friend, urging the person to talk to her lover.
Shortly afterwards, Kennedy fired her text message, describing her as “ungrateful and wicked”.
“He said he had spent a lot of money on me and I could not forfeit the N80,000.
“I said it was a loan, not a gift and I did not have that kind of money.
“He started repaying me till he finished the loan on May 7.
“That was when I was supposed to run for my life. But he begged me that we should give the relationship another chance,” she added.
Kester said instead of listening to her instinct, she forgave Kennedy and agreed to continue with the affair.
On June 4, the businessman then called and asked her to meet him at a hotel in Agege.
Ruth said she went and they had consensual sex.
However, while the widow was dressing up after the steamy coitus, Kennedy, who appeared to have planned his moves, took her snapshots.
About two days later, he reportedly sent another text message to Kester, requesting a loan of N18,000.
“I told him that I did not have it. He said I was lying. We argued back and forth.
“Then he sent a message to me that night that I would regret my action.
“The next thing, I saw 52 of my nude pictures. He said if I did not give him N100,000, he would send the pictures to my male friends on Facebook. Out of panic, I sent the money to him,” she added.
Kester explained that she was still in shock of seeing herself butt naked when she demanded from Kennedy if he had deleted the photos from his phone after the payment.
However, the businessman demanded another N40,000.
The widow said she raised the money and sent to him and he replied by saying he had deleted the nudes from his phone.
But Kester’s reprieve was brief.
In early June, she said she received a call from an old friend who received the nudes from Kennedy on Facebook.
Saturday PUNCH obtained screenshots of a chat between two Facebook users in which Kester’s nudes were shared.
In the blurred photos sent to this reporter, the widow appeared to be sitting on a bed.
Another set of screenshots seen by our correspondent showed a WhatsApp conversation between Kennedy and Kester, as he threatened to circulate her nudes, which he shared with her.
He shared the profile of one Abakpa, Kester’s Facebook friend, and vowed to send the photos to him.
“I will shock you. Better still, do it this night and avoid any embarrassment tomorrow. Send my money back. N100k. I have sent you over N400k; the receipts are there,” he wrote.
In another chat, he wrote, “You collected N40k from me last week as conditions for one useless sex. Return the N40k, then I will delete it permanently from my phone.”
The widow said the threats drove her to the edge of a precipice.
He caused me so much emotional pain that I nearly committed suicide. When he sent out my nudes even after I paid N140,000 for him to delete them, people started calling me. I then went out and stood in the middle of the road, yet no car hit me.
“At another time, I got an insecticide and was about to drink it when my daughters woke up and screamed. That night, I cried and wished I could just die,” she added.
She said when she asked Kennedy why he was bent on destroying her, he vowed to lie against her that he kept money with her, which he was demanding.
“This is not true. Everything he sent to me had descriptions — breakfast, lunch, provisions, my kids. Because he was tormenting my life, I blocked him on WhatsApp.
“Shortly after that, he opened another WhatsAppnumber and sent the pictures to me. He said he would make sure I die,” Kester said.
Findings by Saturday PUNCH showed that Kester is not the first woman to fall victim to Kennedy, who used to work with new generation banks.
Indeed the ordeal of Kester went viral on Facebook in June 2023 after she reached out to some female activists, who launched a vicious campaign against Kennedy on the platform.
Our correspondent gathered that no fewer than three widows and a single mother alleged that he blackmailed them.
The single mother, Temi, who spoke to our correspondent, said she regretted having anything to do with Kennedy, whom she described as a sex maniac.
“It was part of what made me call it quit because it appeared he wanted to destroy my life,” she added.
She recalled meeting Kennedy on a Facebook group for singles in June 2022.
The trader said he sent a message to her inbox and promised to care for her kids and “be a friend”.
“Because I am only a single mother with no helper, we became friends and chatting partners. He was nice and helped with little money to feed my kids. I was so attached to him that I quickly developed emotions.
He asked me out and I accepted. We met sometimes in a hotel. However, whenever we met, he always had sex like an addict. I guess he was on drugs or something.
“Immediately I noticed that, I told him I was not used to that type of sex life.
“He would have sex with me for two to three hours. I got tired and I told him I could not continue,” she added.
The Oyo State indigene said she made up her mind to end the affair in November 2022 when she observed that he was not serious.
Temi said most times, he sent her N1,000 or N2,000 as transport fares after all the sexual rounds in the hotel.
She noted that the highest amount the suspect sent to her was N3,000 for “upkeep”.
“I did not bother him so as not to appear as a gold digger. But he always promised to send something to me. But he would not send anything and when I tried to call him, he would not pick up.
Before we started, I told him that I wanted a relationship that would lead to marriage and he said he was ready to marry me. I asked him to come and see my parents, but he kept making excuses,” she said.
She also noted that Kennedy kept her away from his house.
Temi said after she became frustrated, she demanded that they part ways.
The victim said she stopped taking his calls or replying to his messages in determination to end the tortuous affair.
“But one day, he said we should meet for the last time to iron things out and know where we were heading.
“I initially refused, but when he persisted, I agreed to meet him just for discussion.
We met at a hotel in Olodi Apapa. He said he wanted to collect some money from a thrift society (ajo), and he would give me part of it for my business.
“He said his business had been down and that was why he had not been able to fulfil his promises to me. So, that day, we made up and had sex in the hotel. That was around September/October 2022.
“But when I got home and he still did not fulfil his promise, I called him and said, ‘Kennedy, it is over between us.’ Then he started threatening me.
“He said he loved me but I wanted to dump him. Before I knew it, he started sending all my nudes to me; pictures he had taken since the first day to show his action was intentional. Even during video calls when he would ask me to open my body because he was missing me, I did not know he was taking screenshots. I started crying.
“Even the last time we went to the hotel, I did not know he had set a camera to film me.”
Temi said her pleas for mercy were rebuffed by the businessman, who demanded a refund of all the money he had spent on her.
“So, I wondered if it was the N1,000 he was sending to me he was talking about; what about all the things he had done to me? So, everything will just go like that? He said it was not his concern. He threatened to send the nudes to all my Facebook contacts and family members.
I asked how much was everything he had spent on me and he said N30,000.
“I told him that I was not working and I did not have the money. I promised to send him N15,000 even though it was not up to what he sent to me during the relationship,” she added.
The woman said before she sent the money, she went on Facebook to look for Kennedy’s sister, who was based abroad.
During their past discussion, the businessman was said to have mentioned having a sister overseas.
According to Temi, when she chatted the sister, she refused to give her audience, saying several ladies had made similar complaints against Kennedy to her.
“I begged her to help me tell him to delete the photos. She said she would block me and my best bet was to report to the police. She said she had disowned him. She, however, gave me the contact of another relative that I should call the person.
“I was about to call the relative when Kennedy called me and started insulting me for reporting him. He then sent me a screenshot of my chats with his sister. He said for daring him, he would start posting my nudes. I begged him, but he refused.
Culled from Punch