Date: 2013-05-20

For allegedly defrauding unsuspecting people under the pretext of being an Alfa, One Kazeem Kamaldeen of Madi village via Ita-Amon, Ilorin, has been arraigned before an Ilorin Magistrate Court.
The 31-year-old accused was arraigned on a one-count charge of advance fee fraud, which contradicts Sections 1(3)  of Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences, Act 2006.
Trouble began for the accused following a letter of complaint on May 13 to the office of the Area Commander, Ilorin Metropolis, Ilorin by Alhaja Iyabo Ajetunmobi of Ajetunmobi lane, Alore, Ilorin, that the accused defrauded her son.
According to the complainant, the accused fraudulently deceived her son, Alhaji Idowu Sambo, who resides at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
She alleged further that the accused pretended to be an old man and claimed to be an Islamic cleric residing at Ijebu in Ogun State.
According to the complainant, the accused told the victim that someone came to him for spiritual assistance against him to affect his job negatively of which he doesn't want to do it for the person purposely because the victim is a native of Ilorin.
The accused was said to have told the victim that he will assist him to avert the evil and also asked the victim to make a payment of N75,000 through Access Bank account name Kazeem Kamaldeen with account number 0053245672 to buy three big ram for sacrifice.
The accused told her that the money is to be used to purchase three rams which will be used as sacrifice for her son.
When my son narrated the story to me, I later called the Alfa for verification and he mandated me to make the payment through the said bank.
"I told him that I don't have up to such amount of money and it was not convenient to send it through the bank, he told me that he will send one of his sons living in Ilorin to collect the said money and he sent the son's MTN phone number 08168569960," the complainant stated.
The complainant stated further that she called the MTN number and the accused who received the call told her to meet him at Alanamu Market, Ilorin, where he succeeded in collecting the sum of N25,000 from her.
Police First Information Report (FIR) on the matter stated that investigation conducted at Area Commander Office, Ilorin revealed that the accused was the same person pretending to be the old man at Ijebu, Ogun State and also the young man in Ilorin.
The prosecutor, Sergeant Nasiru Yusuf objected to the bail of the accused and urged the court to remand him in prison custody pending the outcome of the police investigation.
The defence counsel, Barrister Toyin M. Onaolapo prayed the court to admit the accused to bail since he is still presumed innocent under Section 36 (5) of 1999 Constitution of the Federation of Nigeria.
The Judge, Magistrate Muhammed Ibrahim upheld the submission of the prosecutor and ordered that the accused be remanded at the Federal Prison, Oke-Kura, Ilorin, till May 20, when the case would come upfor further mention.