KINGSLEY EBERE
Police detectives from the Force Criminal Investigation Department, FCID Annex, Alagbon, Lagos State, have arrested a bricklayer, Onyekachi John Nnaedozie, for allegedly hypnotizing and swindling a couple, Ikechukwu Nwokedike and his wife, Loveth, of the sum of N200m for spiritual consultations.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the arrest followed a petition to the Assistant Inspector General Police by Ikechukwu Nwokedike against Nnaedozie, who is an in-law to his wife, Loveth.
The suspect, Nnaedozie was said to have instilled fear in the couple by giving them false prophecy that there was an impending calamity that will befall their family and needed series of sacrifices to be averted.
The victims believed and started giving him money through different account numbers of different banks, which he provided until they regained their senses and informed the Police.
The petition sighted by P.M.EXPRESS stated:
PETITION AGAINST MR. ONYEKACHI JOHN NNAEDOZIE AND OTHERS FOR CONSPIRACY AND FRAUDULENT OBTAINING OF OVER TWO HUNDRED MILLION NAIRA (N200,000,000.00) UNDER THE GUISE OF SPIRITUAL CONSULTATIONS.
“The above named and addressed is a business man based in Lagos but hails from Anambra State. My wife, Mrs. Loveth Ifunanya Nwokedike hails from Oji-river, Enugu State. Mr Onyekachi John Nnaedozie is a husband to my wife’s sister, who also hails from Oji-river, where he lives with his family.”
“Mr. Onyekachi John Nnaedozie, being a brother-in-law to my wife, was so much trusted by my family but unfortunately he took undue advantage of this fact to hypnotize my wife into believing that there are high spiritual forces after her life and that of our children which if the spirits are not appeased will result to the death of the entire family.”
“This siege on my family by Mr. Onyekachi started since 2016 when he demanded for the sum of twenty million naira (N20,000,000.00) from my wife for urgent spiritual work to avert an imminent doom on my family, which my wife sent to his account. At intervals, Mr. Onyekachi will always come up with one life threatening story or the other and demand for monies to avert or appease the gods and we keep on sending monies to various accounts provided by him. His antics was extended also to me and we kept on parting with our hard earned money until recently when it dawned on us that we have been under bondage and that this man has no means of sustenance, rather he was only living on the monies he was obtaining from us under false pretence which he was always coming up with claiming that death spirits are after the family.”
Consequent upon the receipt of the petition, a team of detectives were drafted to Enugu State, where the respondent was arrested on the 14/02/2025 at his hide-out in Achi Oji-River after some days of painstaking intelligence besed surveillance.
He was brought to Lagos on the 15/02/2025 wherein he made a written statement admitting the allegations and stated that other members of his syndicate can be located at Imo State and he was ready to lead the Detectives to the hide-outs of other members of the syndicate.
During the interrogation, the suspect confessed that he was a bricklayer and when he started obtaining the money from the victims, he used it to build power water factory, built a duplex and three bedroom apartment in Achi, Oji River.
Following the confession of the suspect, the Police filed a motion for remand in the Police custody for the period of 30 days before the Ebute Metta Magistrate Court to enable the Police to conclude the investigation.
The applicant (Police) in the affidavit, told the Court that they needed time to travel to some eastern states of the country in order to arrest other members of the syndicate and recover exhibits, which includes shrines used by the suspects in perpetrating the crime.
Consequently, the Chief Magistrate, Mrs. F.M. Kayode-Alamu, granted the prayers to enable the Police to conclude the investigation.
