EFCC nabs woman ‘spiritualist’ over N45m herbal cure scam

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By Olusola AJIBIKE (Abeokuta)

NIGERIA: A 34-YEAR-OLD woman, Aminat Okiribiti, who claimed to be a spiritualist, has been arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The Ibadan Zonal office of the commission said that Okiribiti was nabbed for alleged conspiracy and obtaining N45 million under false pretence.

The Head, Public Affairs of the EFCC zonal office, Ayo Oyewole, who confirmed to GatewayMail on Thursday, said that the suspect allegedly rehash the old infamous advance fee fraud tact of spiritual help and solution to all problems to defraud the victim.

The EFCC spokesperson explained that the suspect, alongside three others, who are in hiding, conspired using the

decoy of providing cure and spiritual solution to the health challenges of the victim’s children and fleeced her N45 million.

Oyewole further said that the suspect, who is married to 47-year-old Wande Sesan Okiribiti, who had fled into hiding, confessed that some of the money obtained from the victim was collected through her bank account in one of the new generation banks in Ibadan.

The EFCC spokesman also said that the complainant in her petition allegedly met Wande around October 2014 at Utako, Abuja while in search of a cure for the health challenges facing her children.

Oyewole said Wande, who often pose as a local herb hawker and a spiritualist capable of providing solutions to all problems of unsuspecting patrons, lured her to believing he had the cure.

The complainant, he stressed, subsequently made several payments totaling N45 million, but she, however, realised the scam when the request for funds transfer continued unabated.

This development, Oyewole maintained, led to the petition written by the complainant to the commission for intervention.

He, therefore, advised the public to allow them to be guided by the experience of the victim over “this age long tactic” to avoid falling prey.

The EFCC image maker maintained that after proper and conclusive investigation and interrogation, the suspect would be charged to court.

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