The Lagos State Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) presented its second witness on Monday, March 18, over a £1,000,000 case involving six individuals who conspired to defraud a couple before the Special Offences Court.
The defendants, Morufu Adewale (aka Gbegulerin Adelana), Omitogun Ajayi, Ajisegiri Abiodun, Abayomi Alaka (aka Dauda Usman Alashe), Taiwo Ahmed, Raufu Raheem, and Sanlabiu Teslim, were accused of defrauding a couple of £1 million for conducting prayers.
According to the prosecution, the defendants obtained the sum between May and July 2018 under the pretense of conducting prayers for spiritual cleansing, promising to refund the money within a week, which they failed to do.
He added that they also obtained another large sum of money from the couple between August and September 2018 for similar spiritual prayers for the couple’s son.
The trial, which began in December 2022, after the defendants pleaded not guilty, saw a witness, Moruf Quadri, testify about his 25-year tenure as the victim’s chauffeur.
He mentioned that he received an invitation from the EFCC for questioning, which led him to provide his statement voluntarily.
He stated how the defendants collected various sums of money from the victim for purported cleansing rituals, conducted in remote locations.
Quadri also identified several members of the syndicate and recounted instances where he drove the victim to these remote places, including Ikenne, Ijebu-Igbo, and Igbogbo, where the rituals supposedly took place.
He said, “We went to ljebu-Igbo, we used about eight hours to get there, and when we got there, they used about three hours inside, while I waited, before they came out.
“On our way back, we dropped Omitogun back in Ikorodu and we came back home in Lagos. We also, at various times, received money from one aboki who does bureau de change.”
He mentioned purchasing items like Ghana-must-go bags and big rams for the syndicate, as instructed by the victim, and recounted a moment where the victim realized he had been swindled after finding the box of money missing.
“We were later made to get a box, in which the money meant for the spiritual cleansing was to be kept. That was how i got to know Ajisegiri at the LTV studio in Agidingbi.
“My boss asked me to deposit money in his Eco Bank account, two times,” he said.
Quadri further told the court that his boss was so much extorted that he no longer had a functional car as there was no more money to repair his vehicles or buy new one.
“It was one rickety car that I took loan from my boss to buy that I had to use to drive him to one of the placed where he was asked to bring money, and it was on our way back that we entered a gallop, and he suddenly was jolted, and he said, ‘ha, I have been swindled by this people,” he added.