When Innocence Isn't Enough: My Untold Story Of Being Wrongfully Accused.

Being wrongfully accused is a feeling that stabs deep in the heart. Have heard of people say they were wrongfully accused, but then, it happened to me, and there's one thing about stuffs like this, once people tag you as something, clearing your name feels/is almost impossible. I drowned in the accusation I didn’t deserve.

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Want to know how and what happened, let's go through memory lane.
It was like a normal day in school, then I was in my final year, and I was just so busy on getting my project done and trying to make sense of life after graduation. Then, one evening, a call came through from a friend, Mary, she's my course mate, there was tension in her voice and her voice was shaking, I was just wondering what could be wrong, I did not grasp anything in what she said, I called back and her line wasn't reachable, I was just left worried of what could be wrong with her, after some hours, her call came through again, she was a bit calm now and she asked if I have seen the class group chat and she hunged up again. I hadn’t, so I quickly opened it. My heart sank when I saw messages flooding in, people calling me names, “fraudster,” “thief,” “heartless human being". I haven't even seen the group messages, these were DM's, I couldn’t understand what was happening.

Apparently, someone in my class had been duped of a huge sum of money, money meant for her school fees and family emergency, it was reported that the money was sent to the person by one oversea brother. The person claimed to have sent it to my account because, the person said I was trying to help sort out a hostel issue for her Junior sis that just gained admission and already paid me, which was true, then the person went ahead to say she mistakenly sent another larger sum to me, I was confused, I did not receive any money, indeed I received some disturbing calls some days earlier, the person talked about some money which I said I did not receive, and when the call got too much, I blocked the line, so it was this person, I checked all my bank account balance, non received such amount of money. I typed in the group chat, asking them to calm down, and that it wasn't me, but instead, I got more accusations.

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People I thought were my friends threw words at me like stones. I was an exco(executive) in my departmental fellowship and an exco in my church, a student church which was inside the school campus, and for that also, the thing became much, everyone was like, "exco for that matter" “You’re wicked" “How could you do that to your own classmate” "is that what you preach"... It was just too much, think of anything, I tried calling the victim to clear things up, but he said no, the school authority already heard of this and I would be summoned. The story had spread like wildfire. I couldn’t walk across campus without feeling eyes piercing through me. Some even hissed as I walked past.
I knew I was innocent, but how do I prove I didn’t do something when everyone believes I did, I sent all transaction history of my various bank account to the group, but still, they already believed I did.

After some days of torment, one of my closest friends, Tobi, came to my room. I had shut myself in, avoiding everyone. He looked at me with so much pity that I almost broke down. We reached out to my HOD(Head of department) and he being a good man gave me audience, I showed him all my account, including what the lady initially paid for her siblings hostel and all, but nothing of the one she claimed she sent was there, we took our time to discuss and sort things, he said the matter has gone far and that am I sure of this, if he decides to step in, not as if he doesn't trust me, but his reputation and work would be on the line as well, I asked him to trust me, then he reached out to some committees and summoned the person in question, after lot of going and coming, we found it, she wanted to send the money to her mum, but she sent the money to me, the money got reversed though, and while trying to resend the money to me, she clicked on somebody else account name, my name is Afolayan Jesuferanmi and the person she sent the money to was Afolayan Jesutofunmi. The name looked alike, and we almost did not notice the difference that quickly, even some in the committee already stood up to me, that is this not the proof.

Now, when the truth finally came out, I felt a mix of relief and bitterness. The victim apologized, and a few others did too. But not everyone heard the truth. Some people who carried the first story on their head, like they were market men and women never got to know I was innocent, and even if they did, they didn't carry this new story on their head and market also.

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I learned something from that experience, and that is how quick people judge without facts, how friends can turn to strangers within seconds, and how defending yourself sometimes feels like its just you, no one actually hears.

The truth is, when you are being wrongfully accused of something and the truth later comes to the open, the pain won't just disappear. The scars remain. I walk around now being more cautious, now I know how easily stories can change a person’s life. I never for once thought I’d be at the receiving end of such a mess. Well, I learned the hard way that.

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