Ekiti State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has arrested a 57-year-old suspected ritualist and fraudster, Yomi Akinwumi.
He allegedly obtained money from people under false pretence and thereafter hypnotise the victims.
Akinwumi was arrested in his shrine along Oke-Ila axis of Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, where charms, a woman’s pant, a calabash and a picture of a popular prophet were recovered.
He, however, denied the pant was for rituals and that it belonged to his wife.
Akinwumi said, “The pant belongs to my wife. It is neither for ritual purpose nor for another lady.
“I am not a ritualist,” he said.
His arrest followed a report to the NSCDC by three victims – Taiwo Oluwoye, 32, Adeola Joseph, 71, and Yusuf Bamidele, 36, who alleged that after Akinwunmi defrauded them of N1.8 million under false pretence, he also hypnotised them so that they would not remember any transaction made with him.
The NSCDC State Commandant, Mr Solomon Iyamu, who spoke while parading Akinwunmi, said: “The suspect is assisting us to apprehend other members of the gang,” which network, he said, spread around the southwestern part of the country, adding, “He will be charged to court after the preliminary investigation on the matter has been concluded.”