‘One chance’ tricks land corps member in trouble

The corps member had told all who cared to listen to her story that her life had finished due to her foolishness, which she said put her in trouble as well as made her lose a job at E-Barclays Microfinance Bank, where she had a driver and an official car.

“Where will I get N2 million to refund back to the bank I worked for and what does my fiancé think of me now?” the girl wept silently.

According to the corps member, she boarded a painted cab at Arab Contractors junction, Utako, Abuja, on her was to Dutsen-Alhaji, when she noticed a cripple crying loud, while two other ladies watched him.

She said the cripple was begging the driver of the cab not to take him to the police station, while the driver kept asking him how he came about over a million dollars.

The corps member stated that the cripple, who calls himself Okoh, revealed that the money belongs to his master, a Chadian, which made everyone in the cab decide to help him under an agreement that his money will be shared among everyone in the cab.

She said the driver took them to Angwan Cement, along Karmo-Gwagwa road; a hefty man called Baba (Joseph Ojo), hypnotised and made her take an oath of secrecy.

“After taking the oath, I became flippant and told the syndicate that I normally collect N2 million from my bank’s head office every Tuesday to the bank’s branch were I work and Baba ordered me to bring the money straight to his apartment immediately I collect it from my head office,” she narrated.

 The corps member revealed immediately after collecting that the money, she dodged her official driver and boarded a public transport straight to the apartment of the syndicate where all the four members were anxiously waiting.

“Baba rushed at me, forcefully collected my bag of money as well as other personal belongings and later gave me N170 as transport to my house,” the corps member stated.

She said while she was wandering along the street, the spell left her and she immediately accosted a mobile police patrol team, who transported her to Life Camp police station, where the report was lodged and a quick action taken which led to the arrest of Joseph Ojo, James Amah and Kayode Okosun.

Ojo who is the leader of the group said he was on his own at his apartment when the corps member brought N150,000 to him so that he can make charms for her to get a husband.

“The N150,000 given to me is meant to buy a cow for charms,” he stated.

The other two suspects, James Amah and Kayode Okosun, agreed they were members of the syndicate, who got N150,000 each.

The cripple escaped police arrest but the Life Camp Divisional Police Officer, M.I. Umar Mahmud assured that the police are doing everything within their powers to arrest him and recover the missing money.

He blamed, the corps member for allowing greed to overwhelm her sense of reasoning.

Our reporters learnt that E-Barclays Microfinance Bank also reported a case against the corps member to the police which made her a suspect.

Head of Operations/Admin of the bank, Mr Alfred Oragun, said the corps member must pay the bank back its N2 million as the bank has no business with the suspects.

Sunday Trust learnt that the police arraigned the corps member and other three suspects before a magistrate court last week.

The corps member’s case appears to be similar to that of Mustapha, an applicant, who rushed home one day to beg his father to give him N100,000 as he had seen a hot business, where a man with mercury was willing to help him change pieces of papers to dollars.

“I told my son that I can only answer him when the business turns cold and while discussing with him, learnt that some persons were playing on his intelligence after charming him,” Malam Yusuf Suleiman, said.

He said he had to recite some Islamic incantations before his son could recover himself, adding that if he was not at home, the boy could have broken into his room to collect his money.

Nkechi, another victim of such syndicate was duped of her employer’s N1 million and had to go to jail for six months because her employer refused to buy her story and accused her of stealing his money.

Luck however smiled the way of Nkechi when she accosted the man who duped her in front of Wuse Market and grabbed him, while raising an alarm that attracted policemen, who took both of them to the police station.

Josephine, another prey, said the group accosted her and revealed her life history. “Two of the gang members told me someone in my family was after my life and that if not because they met me, I could have had an accident and turned cripple,” she added.

She said after hearing the message her sense of reasoning vanished and the next thing was that the two men collected all the jewelleries she put on and asked her to go home and bring money for them.

“As I got to the room that I share with a colleague, I broke into her locker but as God will have it, my room mate entered and shouted my name, which cast off the spell and I immediately rushed out to see the two men taking to their heels,” Josephine stated.

According to her, the syndicate specialises in hypnotising people once they discuss with  you.

Some residents spoken to said the corps member was lucky that they allowed her to go without killing her. Malam Garba Salishu of Galadima, said the story was different for a butcher who left home with N30,000 to purchase meat at Suleja.

“The butcher entered an unpainted cab and the next thing we learnt was that his corpse was lying along the Madalla-Suleja road,” Salishu stated.

 Another resident stated how at Nyanya under bridge, a man called his wife in the evening to say he had met friends and was on a business trip and will join her later in the night at their residence near Uke village, along Abuja–Keffi road.

“The man’s corpse with a rope tied on the neck was discovered by the road side,” the resident stated.

The rampant cases of such incidents, our reporter learnt, has made passengers to take precautionary measures as was displayed by one Andy, a staff of the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission, who fought with some ‘one chance’ (fraudsters inside commercial vehicles) operators and ended up being thrown out of a moving vehicle.

Just recently, a policeman, Emmanuel Onyi, boarded a Toyota Starlet car from Kuchigoro to Garki and met passengers in the car, whom he alleged were discussing how to share dollars.

The policeman said when the vehicle stopped for the money to be shared; he discovered there was no money in the car booth and introduced himself as a police officer and arrested them

Peter Oke, Eze Ugwu, Chinedu Nwatanaka and Egwu Augustine all of Chika village were all arraigned before an Abuja Upper Area Court for alleged criminal conspiracy and attempt to commit an offence of cheating.

The accused persons pleaded not guilty and the judge, Umar Kagarko, granted them bail in the sum of N100,000 with a surety each who must reside within the court’s jurisdiction and fixed hearing for June 23.