The police in Lagos have declared wanted a man whose
stock-in-trade is using his three wives who pose as witches
to defraud unsuspecting victims with false promises of a
better future.The suspect, Awosina Folorunsho and his wives Deborah,
Hadiza and Folake got busted when Moses Okafor, husband
of their latest victim, Helen Okafor trailed his wife to their
hideout at Sango Ota in Ogun State.
She was alleged to have paid more than N10 million to the
syndicate before her husband got wind of their activities.
Despite alleged death threats, Moses summoned the
courage and alerted the police at the Lagos State com
mand, Ikeja, where operatives of the Special Anti-
Robbery Squad, SARS, were detailed to storm their
hideout in Sango-Ota area of Ogun State where they
arrested one of the wives, Deborah while Awosina and
the other wives fled the compound.
According to the police, their modus operandi is to ad
vertise in major national dailies. As soon as their victims get
in touch with them through the phone numbers on the
adverts, they will devise different means including threat to
life to extort money from them.
Sounding sober, Deborah, an indigene of Ekiti State, claims
that her husband is a very popular herbalist in Sango Ota.
“He is a well-known herbalist and has customers across
the country. His medicine is very potent, that is why
people patronize us. This is an unfortunate situation. No
one is after the woman and if I tell her, she will still go to
another place and spend that money. It was the devil that
took over us because we are genuine persons”, she
stated.
According to Deborah, who said she is the first wife, it is a
taboo to disobey their husband hence their decision to help
his business to grow.
“He is genuine but sometimes applies wisdom in
convincing his customers. This is where we are needed.
Recently, he called us that there is a woman who needs
help and that we would consult the oracle for her. I did
and discovered that nothing is wrong as she will make
much money in 2015. My husband told me that she is
rich and desperate. Since her future is already bright, we
decided to take advantage of that. The whole money is
with my husband. He has not given any of us our share
from the business before police arrested me.”
How I fell victim –Helen Helen’s desperation started when
she noticed that a certain neighbour’s shop had turned to a
Mecca of some sort.
“I own a cosmetic shop in Balogun market, Lagos
Island. I have a neighbour who could barely pay her
rent in the market. Suddenly, she was having so many
customers and her goods hardly stay up to three days.
She was always travelling to buy goods at least three
times in a month and that is unusual. It was really
embarrassing and I sought solution everywhere, all
to no avail. It was then that my friend advised me to
seek an alternative source of attracting customers. She
was the one who suggested that I should read that
particular newspaper.”
Helen claims that before her husband rescued her, she had
lost more than N10 million to the syndicate
. “I saw the advert in one of the national dailies. The
advert was a solution to stagnant businesses. When I
called them, they told me that it will only cost about
N10,000 for prayers and buying the necessary
ingredients.
“Initially, I went to see them at Mushin and I was given a
form to fill with my passport. They took N8000 and told
me that the money was meant to be used to buy all the in
gredients which include chicken, hot drink and some
other things that would be used to appease the gods.
“During the consultation, the herbalist told me that it was
my neighbours in the market that had stolen my star. I
believed because my business suddenly started
dwindling. I can hardly finish selling my cosmetics in
three months.
“After much prayer, he said that we will travel down to
Sango Ota to collect money that I will reinvest in my
business.”
On getting to Sango Ota, she waas ushered into a very big
compound and asked to go and sit in the living room.
“I begged him to get the money for me but he said that it
is only the owner that will pick it or else it will lose its po
tency. When we got there, I was ushered into a living
room that had red curtains all over. I was terrified but
determined to improve my fortunes.
“Suddenly, the light went off and started blinking. I
wanted to run out but discovered that the door was
locked. It was then three women all dressed in white
appeared. They showed me a carton full of money and
asked me to go and bring N3million to cleanse the money
and make it mine.
“Baba came in shivering and told me to do it or I will die
. He said this was the only way I will have the opportunity
to make it. By the time he calculated the amount needed,
it was about N3.5 million. After seeing those women who
claimed that they are witches of the land, I thought I will
die. I quickly made available the amount and gave them”,
she narrated.
When she returned, Helen said she was asked again to dip
her hands into either of the remaining pot.
“It was the same procedure but this time only two women
appeared. I dipped my hand into the pot by my right and
still picked pieces of paper. I must confess that I heard
the sound of thunder and lightning. It was terrified, I
begged for mercy while a voice shouted that I must
appease the gods. Baba came in again and said that the
evil spirits after me are so many. He assured me that the
last pot contains what I needed. I was asked to bring
N6million to handle the sacrifice. I had no choice because
I was scared for my life and secondly the future will be
brighter.
“I returned on the agreed date to dip my hand in the
third pot but my husband who trailed me, stormed the
room and broke the pot. It was then my eyes opened.
Inside the pot was another paper written that I should
bring N10million or my entire family will be wiped out. I
guess that I was under a spell and I thank God for using
my husband to rescue me. I guess I was under a spell.”
The victim’s husband, Mr. Okafor said he became worried
when he realised that his wife was sneaking out of the
house early in the morning and returning home very late.
“I confronted her and she told me that she went to visit a
friend in Sango. I was worried because this has never
happened and the surprising part is that she will always
sneak out of the house. On 28th January, 2015, I decided
to follow her.
“I allowed her to enter the compound and followed her. I
was not comfortable with the environment and I needed
to know the secret my wife kept from me. I walked into
the house and discovered that it was a shrine. They tried
to stop me but I boldly broke the pot and they threatened
that I will die.
They gathered us to drink all kinds of concoction and to
also sign an undertaking that we hired them to perform
rituals. We agreed and was detained for the whole night
while witches including Deborah told my wife to try and
complete the ritual. To escape from them, we agreed and
was released the next morning. The next day, I reported
the matter to the police.”
Culled from Sun
HOELOFOFO 