Mr Animashaun, 40, is a Nigerian based in the United States. He said during a trip to Nigeria in 1999, he attended a special Islamic prayer session and fell in love with the sermons of an Islamic cleric, one Alhaji Afeez and they became close…..CONTINUE READING...CONTINUE READING
The Alfa, he said, also became his spiritual guardian and counsellor
“After we became close, during every Ramadan, my family and I would go to his house to observe our annual Ramadan prayer,” he added.
He said some time ago, the cleric offered him some already prepared concoction for him. but he said since taking the concoction, his life had not remained the same.
“Since I took the concoction, I became unconscious and I didn’t know what I was doing anymore. I travelled to the United States and I came back to Nigeria in 2012. When I came back, he brought a concoction to me that God instructed him to give me, that it will protect me from evil eyes. Even when I am in Nigeria, he would be the one that will pick me up at the airport to his house, where he would also give me another concoction to bathe with, claiming it was for my own protection.
“When I returned to USA in 2013, he called me that there were business opportunities in Nigeria he wanted me to invest in, especially property business and transportation business and I sent him money to invest for me. In 2016 he called me again and requested for a Sport Utility Vehicle, (SUV) from me, which I bought and shipped down to Nigeria for him. It was one of his boys called Saheed Ajayi that went to clear the vehicle at the sea port.
“For about six to seven years, I have not visited my parents or my siblings. Whatever he asked me to do is what I do. In 2012, when my wife and children went to his mosque to pray during Ramadan period, he said God instructed him that my family should stay under his roof. He said if they didn’t stay with him they were going to die. With the fear of losing my family, I allowed them to stay with him, since he is a man of God that I trusted so much.”
He said the Alfa was also demanding money from him. He said like someone under a spell, he went to the extent of parting with the money kept with him by friends.
“One day, he called me while I was in the US that I should lend him money. I told him that I didn’t have money, but had some money my friends gave me to keep for them. He commanded me to give him the money and after giving him, I begged him to return it and he promised to return it. Two months after I sent the money to him, he called me that I should send the names of those my friends to him, that he was going to cast a spell on them so as for my friends to forget the money or die. It was then I realised I am in the wrong place for years.”
He narrated how he was deceived into parting with his money, property, his wife and children.
Animashaun explained how the suspect changed the names of his own wife and children to those of the Alfa.
“When I asked him why he changed their names, he said it was an instruction from God to him, so that evil people would not kill my wife and children.
“In 2022, he told me that God also told him that whatever is in my possession belongs to him, including my money, property, wife and children, including the money he borrowed from me. He thereafter, threatened me that if I tried to report to the police or go to my family members, that I was going to run mad or die and on resurrection day he was going to condemn me into hell fire and my family too.
Animashaun accused the cleric’s wife of being part of the scam.
He said the suspect who claimed to be a founder of an Islamic group in Ikorodu area of Lagos State colluded with his wife, Alhaja Mushirafat Kikelomo Salaam.
According to him, he had been charmed by the cleric since he was 20 years old. He said the Alfa converted his property for his personal use, claiming that God directed him to do so.
“He tried to take me to the Immigration Office in Sauka Abuja to change the name on my passport to his name, but something happened that fateful day, and we were unable to go. Even my name on my credit card and social security card all had been changed to his own. Presently, all those things I changed to his name from mine are affecting me back in the States. It is true that my family is worried about me. Whenever I want to call my parents to tell them that I would be coming home, suddenly he would call me few days before my arrival that I should not go to them. He would come to the airport to pick me and take me to his house where he would also give me another concoction to drink and bathe with. After that, I will not remember anybody from my family anymore. Whenever I am returning to the States, he would be the one taking me back to the airport without seeing my family,” he lamented.
He said it was only recently that he realised he had been in bondage. He subsequently petitioned the police authorities for an intervention. He petitioned the Assistant Inspector of General of Police in charge of Zone 2, Command, Onikan, Lagos, AIG Muhammad Ari Ali, to investigate and arrest the cleric.
The American returnee, a father of three, spoke in Lagos following the parade of the suspects by the police operatives attached to Zone 2 Command, Onikan.
Based on the petition, detectives from the Zonal Anti-Piracy Unit made some arrests. Those arrested in connection with the incident include Alhaji Afeez Uthman Imoleayo, Mr. Ramon Temidayo Uthman and Saidi Ajayi.
“Others are Alhaja Monsurat Salami Kikelomo and others who are still at large who conspired and abducted the complainant’s wife and children through which the total sum of N105 million was obtained with a written threat to kill the complainant and his family members.
“The principal suspects Alh. Afeez Uthman Imoleayo and his cronies also falsified the complainant’s children’s birth certificates and also compelled the complainant to relinquish all his properties to him.”
When Alhaji Afeez Uthman Imoleayo was interrogated, he denied the allegations against him. But preliminary police investigation has indicted him, Saturday Sun gathered.
He was also accused of converting Model 2004 Chevrolet Rain Blazer SUV valued at $9,700 (N5.6million) and abducting the complainant’s wife and three children for 12 years. He was also accused of changing their vital documents such as birth certificates et cetera belonging to the complainant in connivance with his wife Alhaja Kikelomo and one Saidi Ajayi, his driver.
While denying the allegation, the cleric said: “I never in my life asked him to change names; he did it on his own. He did the change when he went to do the document for travelling because he said he wanted to use his passport for his children. I never abducted his wife and I have never in my life touched his wife. He is not the one that gave me the car; it is another person that gave me the car and the person that gave it to me is Bodex.”
Another suspect, a 65-year-old Oyedokun Adebare, a herbalist, who allegedly worked with the Islamic cleric to swindle the complainant was also arrested by the police and paraded.
Oyedokun explained that he had been working with the cleric for about 15 years.
“I got to know him through one of my apprentices and we became friends. That was how I started preparing charms for him whenever he approached me for a successful breakthrough.”
The police authorities disclosed that the suspects would be charged to court upon the completion of investigation…..CONTINUE READING
