A Nigerian lady based in Europe has fallen for a scam plotted under the cloak of divination. As a result, a suspected Islamic cleric, Imam Balogun Morufu and three others identified as Babatunde Richard, Adedoyin Idowu, Olayemi Olayinka are now telling the police how they succeeded in defrauding the Germany-based businesswoman simply identified as Angela.
Angela who recently relocated to Nigeria after 11 years abroad parted with over N81.78 million in her quest to double her wealth. According to a police source, sometime in January, Babatunde, a dismissed police officer who was in Benin for a business transaction learnt that Angela was having issues abroad and her mother felt that the only way to solve the problem was to approach a spiritualist for help.
Babatunde who is a fraudster decided to share the contract of defrauding Angela and family with his seniors in the job. He contacted Morufu who laid down a perfect plan on how to lure them into their trap. The story line was that they have the power to double her wealth.
Unfortunately before Angela realized that she was dealing with fraudsters, she had parted with more than N81 million part of which was meant to buy materials for spiritual cleansing. One of such was that the supposed spiritual leader, Morufu will have sex with her in their shrine at Sango Ota in Ogun State and Ibadan, Oyo State.
As soon as it dawned on her that she was gradually becoming poor, Angela alerted the police. All the members of the syndicate were arrested at their various locations in Oyo and Ogun by detectives attached to the IGP Intelligence Response Team (IRT) days after their latest victim petitioned the police.
I slept with her because she is beautiful
The leader of the syndicate, Balogun Morufu aged 50, in his confession at the police station said that it is very easy to defraud a man or woman in need. This he discovered as an Islamic cleric who owns a shrine where people with issues across the country come to consult him for prayers.
“I am the Imam in-charge of a mosque in Ibadan and a small shrine in Sango. By the grace of God, a lot of people used to consult me whenever they have issues. I would recommend herbs and also pray for them but my major challenge was that people will not give you money except you instill fear in them.
“Several years ago, some fraudsters came and sold an idea how I can make good money as an Imam and just as they said I was paid about N1 million. This was how I started. Sometime in February this year, one of my contractors, Olayinka called me that he has a job for me. He said that there is a desperate woman that we need to defraud. We put a call across to her mother because she was the one who contacted the herbalist on behalf of the daughter. It was later that I got to know that her name is Angela.
“Her mother told us that her daughter is based abroad and making a lot of money, yet a particular couple in Benin is in-charge of all her investments. She remits most of the money she made abroad to the couple. Her mother wanted the herbalist to perform magic that will free the daughter from those people. When I learnt about the case, I knew they were desperate and will part with any amount of money. I put a call across to the mother and told her that the herbalist consulted earlier has no power. I lied to her that it was the spirit of ‘God’ that sent me to her. I told her that the spirit of death is hovering around her family and her children will die one after the other.”
Days later, Angela, her mother and his brother travelled down to Morufu’s shrine in Sango to seek spiritual guidance. “She later called and promised to come to Sango and see us. She came with her daughter Angela and two other persons. We washed their heads before attending to them. By merely washing their heads, they were already terrified. Her mother insisted that she wanted us to kill the couple that is disturbing her daughter from progressing. I took them to Idowu’s shrine where prayers were offered. I deliberately refused to collect money from them so that they will be convinced that I am real.
“I was able to convince her to forget about that and concentrate on making her daughter Angela richer. I told them that there is ‘pot of life’ that can double any amount of money. They left that day and promised to call us back. Sometime in May, her mother called that I should come to Benin, that she is interested in my suggestion. I travelled down to their house in Benin with my boy Olayinka and my driver. After praying with the entire family, I asked them to prepare a room where the pot of life will be kept. I told them to put the amount they want the spirit of money to double. I was so excited when they placed foreign currency in the pot. While I was praying over the pot, I quickly collected the money and hid them in my underwear. I told them not to open the pot until the third day.
“It was on our way back to Lagos that I counted the money and discovered that it was 99,000 Euro. This is our biggest catch since we started this business.”
Three days later, Angela and her family members opened the room and discovered that the pot was empty. “I knew that they will call me so I prepared myself to make more money from them. As soon as they discovered that the money was missing, they called me and I told them that some red and black witches intercepted the money on the way and seized them.
“I told them that we needed to perform a sacrifice in Ibadan and Lagos. They paid another 34,000 Euro to purchase things that can never be found in the market. I also asked Angela to come for cleansing and during that time I slept with her. She is a beautiful woman so I took advantage of her desperation to have free sex. I told her that it was part of the processes that she needed to undergo before her money will return in double. We kept collecting and collecting that I cannot recall how much was taken in all. It was when we got to the police station that we calculated everything and discovered that it was more than N80 million.”
On how his own share was expended, Morufu said he spent most of the money in building a house. “I used my share of the money to build a duplex at my town in Ibadan. I have not completed the building when police arrested me. I have been in this business for several years. We do not have any type of power that can harm anyone. If we have power, the police will not be able to arrest us. The secret is that if you watch how desperate your target is, you can lure them to spend money especially the women. They are ready to have sex with you as long as they find solution to their problem. The easiest are those looking for husband and children. We do not hypnotize anyone; it is the desperation to recover their money that make them to continue spending.”
Why I allowed Imam Morufu have sex with me
Their latest victim Angela said she cannot explain how they were able to defraud her despite her experience abroad. “I have lived in Germany for the past four years after I relocated from Italy where I spent seven years. I came back with the sole intention to start a business and only travel abroad for vacation. There were issues which my family especially my mother felt will need spiritual cleansing. My mother suggested that we should go for family cleansing and since it was for the good of the family, I agreed.
“They told me about the ‘pot of life’ and I agreed since the process is simple: put money in a pot in my house and it will double. When the money disappeared, they started giving one reason or the other why it disappeared and what I should do to recover the money. Apart from the 99,000 Euro that was collected from the pot, the others were paid into the account of Olayinka who claimed that he is also a herbalist. Morufu their leader also had sex with me severally in the name of spiritual cleansing. I felt terrible but I had to allow him have his way because of my family.”
Apart from the 99,000 Euro that was taken from her, Angela said that she was asked to bring things that cannot be bought in the market. Since she could not buy them, she had to convert it to cash. “Some of the things they asked me to buy include Gorilla, Chimpanzee, seven horses and a certain bird that can only be found in Morocco. I was told to bring 12 of that bird. Before I realized what was happening, I have spent more than N81 million. The total amount is N81, 780,000. I believe they used voodoo on me. I was even suspecting that my brothers had a hand in it till they were arrested. My plea is for police to help me to recover my money.”
Gateway News
