By Sola Jacobs
A woman identified as Sola Alagogo has been arrested and handed over to the Police by the traditional Emese court in Ooni Palace, Ile-Ife, for allegedly swindling bank customers in Lagere area of the town.
Alagogo had earlier been made to confess to the allegation before the traditional court, after which she was stripped of her traditional powers in the Palace before she was handed over to the police.
A source at the palace said that it was revealed before the traditional court that Alagogo who disguises to be a prophetess always hypnotised her victims, which made them to lose their reasoning immediately she engaged them in discussions.
According to one of the victims, Mrs Cecilia Peter, while speaking with OSUN DEFENDER, alleged that in August 2016, she was going to one of the first generation Banks along Lagere on the fateful day when Sola Alagogo approached her to asked of Ejigbo Motor park and in the course of directing her to the appropriate park, she lose her reasoning and handed her handbag which contained N50,000 to the accused.
She recalled that she could not decline the request of the accused that her bag should be given to her after which she went away with the money.
Another victim, Aina Rasidat who also shared her experience attested that sometimes in July 2017 while she was going to lodged N85,000 in a bank, she encountered the suspect who asked her a way to a secondary school and in the process, discussions ensued between them, only for her to realised that Sola Alagogo had made away with her handbag.
Benjamin David, a commercial motorcyclist who was also a victim, narrated that the accused woman had posed to be a passenger, but as soon as he carried her on his motorcycle, the woman asked for the money he had made for the day and he obeyed her without asking her any question.
Explaining how Alagogo was apprehended, one Mrs Cecilia Peter said, she boarded a commercial bus in Lagere on her way to market, after which she noticed that the accused person was sitting next to her in a suspicious way, a situation that propelled her to raise alarm and the matter was taken to the palace.
She said that in the process the news filtered around, a situation that attracted some of the earlier victims to come around and identify the swindler.
