The police in Lagos have arraigned a 29-year-old woman, Mrs. Bisola Akintayo, for allegedly duping a popular cleric, Pastor Lai Bamidele, of about half a million naira, supposedly the cost of a plot of land to be sold to him at Ibeju Lekki, Lagos.
Pastor Bamidele is the General Overseer of Christ Glorious Endtime Evangelical Ministries, a church with headquarters in Fagba, Lagos.In the four-count charge of obtaining money by false pretence, stealing, and threat to life, Akintayo was accused of committing the crime along with two others now at large.
The charges, brought before a Lagos Magistrate’s Court, were preferred by the police from Lagos Zone 2 Command’s headquarters in Onikan, led by Tajudeen Abass, an Assistant Superintendent of Police.One of the counts read: “That you, Akintayo Bisola “f”, and others now at large, did conduct yourselves in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace by refusing to allocate a plot of land to one Pastor Lai Omotayo Bamidele “m”, and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 168 (d) of the criminal law of Lagos State, 2015.”The third count added that the accused persons did obtain the sum of N491,750 from Pastor Bamidele on the pretence that they would “allocate a plot of land to him, situated at Beryi Estate, Phase 11, Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, a representation you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 314 of the criminal law of Lagos.”
When the charges were read, Akintayo pleaded not guilty, and the Magistrate, Mrs. Fusikat Olumide, admitted her to bail, and adjourned the case to January 3, 2019.