Police arrest three ‘clerics’ for alleged fraud, rape

Ogun State Police Command has arrested three self-acclaimed Islamic clerics for allegedly defrauding unsuspecting members of the public and raping their female victims in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

Police spokesperson in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, on Tuesday said Aliu Abdulfatai (50), Sule Adebayo (36) and Lekan Olokodana (31) were arrested following a report by a woman (name withheld).

Mr Oyeyemi said the woman reported at Adigbe police station that she was duped of N70,000 by the suspects, while one of them also forcefully had carnal knowledge of her.

He said the complainant, who is a marketer with a popular property/real estate company, was on an assignment when she met the suspects who claimed to be Islamic clerics and indicated interest in purchasing a large expanse of land.

The suspects allegedly claimed they wanted to build a mosque on the land but immediately persuaded the woman to have a special prayer after which they told her she was under a spell which needed a special deliverance prayer to cast out.

“As a result of this, they succeeded in fraudulently obtaining the sum of N70, 000 from her after they lured her into their house where one of them raped her.

“On the strength of her complaint, the DPO Adigbe division, CSP Augustine Opadile, detailed his detectives to go after these hoodlums and bring them to justice. Their efforts paid off when three amongst them were apprehended while waiting for the victim to bring the money they demanded, and one of them escaped,” the police spokesperson said.

“On interrogation, they confessed being fraudsters and that it has been their means of livelihood. It was also revealed that one of them has used the proceed of their fraudulent act to build a private school in Ikorodu, Lagos State.

“The Commissioner of Police, CP Bashir Makama, has ordered a full-scale investigation into the activities of these hoodlums with the view to charging them to court as soon as possible,” Oyeyemi added.