BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
A man, who claimed to be a pastor, Akande Oladipupo Olatuntoye, has been arraigned by the Osun State Ministry of Justice for allegedly duping five job seekers and a businesswoman to the tune of N5, 497,000.
Olatuntoye was accused of fraudulently obtaining money from the female victims after promising to get them job offers at the Independent National Electoral Commission, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and the Osun State University Teaching Hospital, formerly known as Ladoke Akintola Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, which he failed to do.
While the defendant fleeced the five job seekers of a total sum of N4, 297, 000, 00, he allegedly defrauded a businesswoman of the sum of N1.2 million.
The prosecuting counsel from the Ministry of Justice in the state, A. A. Idowu, on Tuesday, when the matter was mentioned for substitution of charge, told the court that the defendant committed the acts at different times and dates in Osogbo, Inisha and Iwo areas of the state.
Idowu said Olatuntoye fraudulently obtained the sum of N380, 000.00 from one lady, Adeyemo Victoria Opeyemi on December 29, 2012 in Osogbo under the pretence of securing a job for her at INEC and NNPC.
The prosecutor disclosed that the accused person, in February, 2013 at Inisha town of the state, fraudulently obtained the sum of N2, 500,000.00 from one lady, Olubuse Esther Olubunmi under the pretence of securing job for her Church member at the NNPC and to purchase her a Mazda car, a representation he knew to be false.
He also noted that Olatuntoye, sometimes in July, 2013 in Iwo, fraudulently obtained the sum of N302, 000.00 from one lady, Ajao Bolaji Taiwo under the pretence of securing a nursing job for her at LAUTECH Hospital Osogbo (now Osun State University Teaching Hospital) and scammed her.
“That you Akande Oladipupo Olatuntoye sometimes in April, 2012 at Oke-Baale area, Osogbo in the Osogbo Magisterial District did fraudulently obtain the sum of One Million Two Hundred Thousand Naira (N1,200,000.00) from one Atoyebi S. Omolara under the pretence of supplying her a vehicle and some bags of rice, a representation you know to be false and converted the money to your own use and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 419 of the Criminal Code Cap 34, Vol. II Laws of Osun State of Nigeria 2002.
“That you Akande Oladipupo Olatuntoye ‘M’ sometimes in April, 2013 at Inisha in Okuku Magisterial District sitting in Osogbo did fraudulently obtain the sum of One Million One Hundred and Fifteen Thousand Naira (N1,115,000.00) from one Oladele Olawumi under pretence of securing job for her and her brother at Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, a representation you know to be false and converted the money to your own use, and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 419 of the Criminal Code Cap 34. Vol. II Laws of Osun State of Nigeria 2002,” the charge further read.
However, Olatuntoye entered into a not-guilty plea for all the allegations.
The defence counsel, Bosede Dada urged the court to grant the defendant bail and assured that he would furnish the court with reliable sureties.
Ruling on the application, Chief Magistrate Olusegun Ayilara granted Olatuntoye bail in the sum of N2 million with two sureties in the same amount.
He said one of the sureties is to be a civil servant in Osun while the other must be a relation of the cleric.
The matter was adjourned till October 20.