A pastor with a white garment church has just been arrested by the Special Fraud Unit, Milverton, Ikoyi, Lagos, for collecting N70 million to treat a businesswoman of fibroid.
The arrest of the suspect, identified simply as Femi, followed a complaint lodged at the Unit by the victim’s husband, over allegation that the former intended to eliminate him and take over his property.The businesswoman, as gathered, had been suffering from the ailment which defied medical treatment for 14 years, until she was introduced to Pastor Femi, who promised to cure her. Explaining the circumstances that led to his arrest, Commissioner of Police in-charge of SFU, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, said:
“A notable Nigerian, who was living in peace with his family before the prophet came into their lives, had reported a case of swindling of his wife, consequent upon which we began investigation. “Facts of the matter is that wife of the prominent Nigerian was having medical challenges as she was suffering from fibroid. The woman met a female trader, who introduced her to Prophet Femi of a Celestial Church in Oke-Ira, Ogba, Lagos. “The prophet assured her that he would be able to handle the situation.” Lamorde, who was represented by SP Ngozi Braide, said:
“They charged the woman N98,000 fee, which she paid and Prophet Femi gave her some herbs, which stopped the bleeding for a while.”.
He continued:
“When the bleeding started again in 2014, she went back to the prophet, who brought in a new twist to the matter. “He hypnotised the woman and convinced her that her husband was responsible for her problems. Prophet Femi went further to convince the woman that her husband was also after her children’s lives, accusing him of being a cultist. “He went further to tell her that the bleeding was the source of her husband’s money.
That the more it flowed the richer the man would get. “The woman was asked to bring money for sacrifices and rituals, which she paid into the prophet’s account. She also built a five bedroom duplex at Ojokoro area of Lagos and another in Ado-Ekiti for the prophet, upon his request. “The prophet also warned the woman to stop sleeping with her husband and instructed her and her children to bring 70 percent of the money her husband gave to them monthly to him.
“For three years the prophet would come and sleep in the man’s house, without his knowledge. There was a time he allegedly gave the woman’s only son a concoction to drink and he started behaving like a mad person. “He took him (son) to Ekiti, gave him something to drink and he became normal again.”
The bubble burst after one of the victim’s children, who came visiting from London, reportedly paid in N20 million into the prophet’s account. She was said to have suspected that all was not well, following which she reported the matter to her father, who confronted his wife. Sensing danger, the suspect was said to have fled to Ekiti, from where he was arrested. .
Displaying the monetary transactions between the woman and the prophet, Braide said:
“After his arrest, we discovered that one of his accounts read over N70 million, which was paid in by the victim. “We learned that the prophet has two other accounts. Preliminary investigation showed that the suspect had collected a chieftaincy title in Ekiti with the money. “Also recovered were a Toyota Highlander 2014 Model and a Lexus GX 470 2014 model, which were bought for him by his victim. The suspect did not deny all the allegations against him.
“He proudly told us that he is a prophet and a native doctor. He told us that he helped the woman and uses brain to collect money from her, since the family is wealthy. “We have decided to bring this to the public domain to warn people about fraudsters, who hide under churches as prophets or pastors. We have saved this man (husband of victim) from death as that would have been the next plan
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