The Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested one Fidelis Poor, who allegedly connived to defraud a first Class Traditional Ruler in Kwara State.
A statement released Monday, by the Commission’s spokesperson, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, disclosed that the victim, His Royal Highness, Idris Sero Abubakar, the Emir of Okuta in Baruten Local Government Area of the State, was defrauded of N33,399,999 (Three Million, Three Hundred and Ninety-Nine Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ninety Nine Naira).
TheFact Nigeria learns that 30-year-old Poor, who hails from Stwue in Konshisha Local Government Area of Benue State, alongside other suspects currently still at large, allegedly conspired to swindle the monarch, on the guise that he had a container of goods, meant to be used for the development of Okuta community, due be cleared at Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja.
The Emir, who also is a former member of the House of Representatives, had, in a petition dated November 30, 2021, alleged that a group of fraudsters who operate as a syndicate called him on phone sometime last year that he had a container to clear in Abuja and requested for the said amount for clearance.
The monarch stated that the syndicate provided different accounts for him to pay ‘the money for the clearance of the goods’, one of which included that of Fidelis Poor. According to him, the fraudsters thereafter asked him to call one “Evangelist Rose Mary Oni (JP)” for handing over of the container.
He further stated that efforts to get the goods delivered or recoup his money had been unsuccessful, hence he petitioned the EFCC.
The Commission, upon the receipt of the petition, commenced discrete investigation into the matter, which led to Poor’s arrest.
The suspect will be arraigned upon conclusion of investigation, while efforts are ongoing to get other members of the syndicate arrested.
