THE Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has re-arraigned a Lagos prophet Cletus Ilongwo over alleged N54.7 million fraud.
The prophet was re-arraigned on Thursday, June 16, 2022, before Justice Sherifat Solebo of the Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, on an amended seven-count charge bordering on obtaining money under false pretence to the tune of N54.7 million.
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According to a statement posted on Twitter by the EFCC, Ilongwo was first arraigned on November 5, 2018, on an 11-count charge to which he pleaded “not guilty”.
He was said to have defrauded one Obinna Ezenwaka of N54.7 million.
“His victim, Obinna Ezenwaka, a former employee of Fidelity Bank Plc, alleged that he was introduced to the defendant sometime in 2015 when he was seeking a solution to his “spiritual problem”.
“However, Ilongwo allegedly lured Ezenwaka to part with N59,760,000 under the guise that he would use it to purchase a property located at Diamond Estate, FESTAC Town, with the assurance that they would resell it to a Chinese company at the cost of N150million,” the EFCC statement said.
“The defendant, however, reneged on his promise prompting him to petition the EFCC. The Court had, at the last sitting on June 8, 2022, adjourned till June 16, 2022, for judgment,” the statement added.
At the resumed sitting, according to the anti-graft agency, the prosecuting counsel, Nwandu Ukoha, informed the court of an amended charge filed by the prosecution on June 14, 2022, which he said had also been served on the defence.
Ukoha, therefore, applied that the defendant be arraigned on the amended charges for him to take his plea.
A reporter with the ICIR
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