A 49-year-old businessman, Adeyemi Adeshina, on Tuesday appeared before an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court for allegedly impersonating a medical doctor and fraudulently collecting over N2.5 million from three people.
The defendant, who resides at 23 Olaniyan Eluke St., Ikorodu, Lagos, is charged with impersonation, obtaining by false pretences and causing breach of peace.
He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The prosecutor, ASP Raji Akeem, told the court that the defendant committed the offences from June 2022 to December 2022 at Agege, Lagos.
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Akeem said the defendant posed as a medical doctor and wooed a nurse, Miss Ruth Gbosinghan, into a relationship.
The prosecutor said the defendant obtained N500,000 from Gbosinghan on the pretext that he would repay her.
Akeem said the defendant also obtained N1.8 million from Gbosinghan’s friend, Adewumi, on false pretences that he was going to do a medical professional examination in the US.
Akeem said the defendant also obtained N217,000 from one Mr Julius Tokode on false pretences that he would repay it.
The prosecutor said later, Gbosinghan, the complainant, discovered that the defendant was never a doctor at Lagos State Teaching Hospital as he claimed.
“The complainant also discovered that she had been fooled into a relationship and that the defendant is not a medical doctor,” he said.
The offences contravene sections 78, 168 and 214 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The chief magistrate, Mrs B. O. Osunsanmi, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum and adjourned the case until Jan. 30 for mention.