Businesswoman loses millions to ‘3 witches’
whose stock-in-trade is using his three wives who
pose as witches to defraud unsuspecting victims with
false promises of a better future.
The suspect, Awosina Folorunsho and his wives Debo
rah, Hadiza and Folake got busted when Moses
Okafor, husband of their latest victim, Helen Okafor
trailed his wife to their hideout at Sango Ota in Ogun
State.
She was alleged to have paid more than N10 million
to the syndicate before her husband got wind of their
activities.
Despite alleged death threats, Moses summoned the
courage and alerted the police at the Lagos State com
mand, Ikeja, where operatives of the Special Anti-
Robbery Squad, SARS, were detailed to storm their
hideout in Sango-Ota area of Ogun State where they
arrested one of the wives, Deborah while Awosina
and the other wives fled the compound.
According to the police, their modus operandi is to
advertise in major national dailies. As soon as their
victims get in touch with them through the phone
numbers on the adverts, they will devise different
means including threat to life to extort money from
them.
Sounding sober, Deborah, an indigene of Ekiti State,
claims that her husband is a very popular herbalist in
Sango Ota.
"He is a well-known herbalist and has customers
across the country. His medicine is very potent, that
is why people patronize us. This is an unfortunate
situation. No one is after the woman and if I tell her,
she will still go to another place and spend that
money. It was the devil that took over us because we
are genuine persons", she stated.
According to Deborah, who said she is the first wife,
it is a taboo to disobey their husband hence their
decision to help his business to grow.
"He is genuine but sometimes applies wisdom in
convincing his customers. This is where we are
needed. Recently, he called us that there is a woman
who needs help and that we would consult the oracle
for her. I did and discovered that nothing is wrong as
she will make much money in 2015. My husband told
me that she is rich and desperate. Since her future is
already bright, we decided to take advantage of that.
The whole money is with my husband. He has not
given any of us our share from the business before
police arrested me."
How I fell victim –Helen Helen's desperation started
when she noticed that a certain neighbour's shop had
turned to a Mecca of some sort.
"I own a cosmetic shop in Balogun market, Lagos
Island. I have a neighbour who could barely pay her
rent in the market. Suddenly, she was having so
many customers and her goods hardly stay up to
three days. She was always travelling to buy goods at
least three times in a month and that is unusual. It
was really embarrassing and I sought solution
everywhere, all
to no avail. It was then that my friend advised me to
seek an alternative source of attracting customers.
She was the one who suggested that I should read
that particular newspaper."
Helen claims that before her husband rescued her,
she had lost more than N10 million to the syndicate
. "I saw the advert in one of the national dailies. The
advert was a solution to stagnant businesses. When I
called them, they told me that it will only cost about
N10,000 for prayers and buying the necessary
ingredients.
"Initially, I went to see them at Mushin and I was
given a form to fill with my passport. They took
N8000 and told me that the money was meant to be
used to buy all the ingredients which include chicken,
hot drink and some other things that would be used
to appease the gods.
"During the consultation, the herbalist told me that it
was my neighbours in the market that had stolen my
star. I believed because my business suddenly
started dwindling. I can hardly finish selling my
cosmetics in three months.
"After much prayer, he said that we will travel down
to Sango Ota to collect money that I will reinvest in
my business."
On getting to Sango Ota, she waas ushered into a
very big compound and asked to go and sit in the
living room.
"I begged him to get the money for me but he said
that it is only the owner that will pick it or else it will
lose its potency. When we got there, I was ushered
into a living room that had red curtains all over. I was
terrified but determined to improve my fortunes.
"Suddenly, the light went off and started blinking. I
wanted to run out but discovered that the door was
locked. It was then three women all dressed in white
appeared. They showed me a carton full of money
and asked me to go and bring N3million to cleanse
the money and make it mine.
"Baba came in shivering and told me to do it or I will
die
. He said this was the only way I will have the opportu
nity to make it. By the time he calculated the amount
needed, it was about N3.5 million. After seeing those
women who claimed that they are witches of the
land, I thought I will die. I quickly made available the
amount and gave them", she narrated.
When she returned, Helen said she was asked again
to dip her hands into either of the remaining pot.
"It was the same procedure but this time only two
women appeared. I dipped my hand into the pot by
my right and still picked pieces of paper. I must
confess that I heard the sound of thunder and
lightning. It was terrified, I begged for mercy while a
voice shouted that I must appease the gods. Baba
came in again and said that the evil spirits after me
are so many. He assured me that the last pot
contains what I needed. I was asked to bring
N6million to handle the sacrifice. I had no choice
because I was scared for my life and secondly the
future will be brighter.
"I returned on the agreed date to dip my hand in the
third pot but my husband who trailed me, stormed
the room and broke the pot. It was then my eyes
opened. Inside the pot was another paper written
that I should bring N10million or my entire family will
be wiped out. I guess that I was under a spell and I
thank God for using my husband to rescue me. I
guess I was under a spell."
The victim's husband, Mr. Okafor said he became
worried when he realised that his wife was sneaking
out of the house early in the morning and returning
home very late.
"I confronted her and she told me that she went to
visit a friend in Sango. I was worried because this has
never happened and the surprising part is that she
will always sneak out of the house. On 28th January,
2015, I decided to follow her.
"I allowed her to enter the compound and followed
her. I was not comfortable with the environment and
I needed to know the secret my wife kept from me. I
walked into the house and discovered that it was a
shrine. They tried to stop me but I boldly broke the
pot and they threatened that I will die.
They gathered us to drink all kinds of concoction and
to also sign an undertaking that we hired them to
perform rituals. We agreed and was detained for the
whole night while witches including Deborah told my
wife to try and complete the ritual. To escape from
them, we agreed and was released the next morning.
The next day, I reported the matter to the police."
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