The suspected journalist, Ortega Eyankire, 28, was arrested on Monday. He is said to have duped the traditional ruler, Oba Ashimiyu Olorunfemi, the Elegbede of Egbe in Egbe Idimu area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
The suspect was believed to be using the name of the National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Asiwaju Bola AhmedTinubu, to extort money from the monarch over a long time.
The oba told P.M.NEWS that he had parted with about N18 million since the suspect had been coming to him, making him to believe that he came in the name of Tinubu.
According to the monarch, the young man first came with a letter that his group wanted to confer an award on Tinubu and that the event would hold at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki and wanted support from the oba.
He explained that "after a lot of persuasion, he even claimed that Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu is aware of the award and it will hold at Oriental Hotel, Lekki, Lagos. After a while, I started receiving phone call from a voice that sounded like that of Tinubu. That was what really encouraged me to fall for his antics. The number used is 08083803107.
"The voice sounded exactly like that of Tinubu. The voice from the other end always claimed he was from him and that the award was real. I started to believe him; I gave him some amount of money since I am always appreciative of Tinubu.
"When the award date was drawing closer, I was informed that there would be a shift in date due to Tinubu's court case in Abuja. I was asked to foot their bill to Abuja as solidarity support and I paid for their flight tickets on three occasions,"he explained.
The oba said Eyankire also lied that they would be going to Ghana for an award for Tinubu "and I promptly paid for their flight tickets after confirming from the same voice on phone, claiming to be Tinubu. It was later when I got suspicious that I started asking questions and he could not provide answers and decided to avoid me.
"I later contacted some politicians, especially Mr. Adebayo Bello, Chairman, Egbe/Idimu LCDA, who raised the alarm that it was not Tinubu's number the suspect has been calling," he stated.
After he was arrested, Eyankire, it was gathered, admitted to the crime and that he worked with Alimosho Times, a community newspaper.
He said greed and love for money led him to take such action, but claimed that he only collected N750,000 from the monarch.
The Divisional Police Officer, DPO, of Ikotun Police Station personally arrested the suspect and took him to the station for further interrogation.
P.M.NEWS gathered that it was the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Aderemi Ibirogba who asked the DPO to arrest the suspect.
Eyankire has since been transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS.
Via PM news.
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