Herbalist Impersonates NNPC MD

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Street wise herbalist , Jamiu Isiaka was the daring  chap who impersonated the immediate past  GMD NNPC, Maikanti Baru and the   presidential spokesperson, Femi Adeshina, to dupe a Korean of N30 million.  The most interesting aspect of it was the titillating accounts he gave  and the assertion  that  he did not defraud the Korean but rather used the money to buy lion skull, elephant skin, intestine and other ritual items.   The chap who was arrested by the EFCC and arraigned in court two weeks ago returned to court last week. The trial of the 32 – year- old herbalist, commenced on Wednesday, 19th of June 2019 at the Kwara State High Court , Ilorin. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ilorin Zonal Office,  had  earlier arraigned Isiaka on a four- count charge bordering on impersonation, forgery and obtaining money under false pretense before Justice M. AbdulGafar. At the resumed hearing last week, the first prosecution witness, Dare Folarin, who is an operative of the EFCC narrated  how the accused used the names of some top senior government officials to defraud a Korean National, Keun Sig Kim to the tune of over N30million. Folarin, the Second in Command (2ic) at the Ilorin Zonal Office told Justice AbdulGafar that  a petition was written to the Executive Chairman of the EFCC by the complainant  where he alleged that some fraudsters collected over N30million from him all in the name of helping him to secure a license from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC). ‘The herbalist sent several documents which he claimed emanated from the NNPC and had the names of some top government functionaries including ; the   former Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru, Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adeshina and the INEC National Commissioner, Mrs. Amina Zakari. Several foreign currencies were paid into Isiaka’s domiciliary account domiciled in UBA  which he made available to the petitioner, the bank confirmed that the defendant is the sole signatory to the said bank  account and  he made the withdrawal through a written instruction.  We also wrote to the NNPC to confirm the genuineness of the documents he sent to the victim, and the agency replied us that the documents were fake, asserting that none emanated from the NNPC’ he said.   In response to questions by the Prosecution counsel, Mrs. O. B Akinsola, the Prosecution witness also added that the accused person told the operatives of the commission that he used the money  to prepare sacrifice for the victim and that he had to  travel to Ijebu-Igbo where he bought lion skull for N400,000, elephant skin for N500,000 and a vulture at the rate of  N350,000. Items recovered from Jamiu’s house including; Toyota Corolla car,  plasma television, home theater, refrigerator, air conditioner and a generating set  were admitted by the court as exhibits. Justice Abdulgafar later adjourned the case to the 25th of June for further hearing.