Police have arrested a suspected Internet fraudster for allegedly impersonating the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi.
The suspect Abiodun Joseph was said to have duped two US-based Nigerian ladies on Facebook of various sums of money in the monarch's name.
Joseph was arrested by the Ogun State police command on Wednesday, April 19, 2017, at Ilese, in the Ijebu North East Local Government Area.
He allegedly duped the ladies to the tune of N600,000, which was paid through money transfer.
The state Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, said the 26-year-old has been perpetrating the crime on Facebook and Whatsapp.
"On interrogation, he owned up to the crime and confessed that he defrauded the ladies of N600,000," Iliyasu said.
Joseph said after he opened the Facebook account in October 2016, many ladies bombarded him with friend requests, expressing their desire to be the Ooni of Ife's Oloris (wives), and believing that the account indeed belonged to the monarch.
He said: "A few days after I opened the Facebook account, many people, mostly ladies, sent friend requests. Many of them said I had good looks and they wanted to be my oloris.
"In our chats, I told them that they have to pay some money for traditional ritual if they are really interested in being the oloris. Two of them in the US fell for the scam and sent some money to me totalling N600,000 through money transfer.
"One sent N350,000 and the second one sent N250,000.
"Some of the ladies were really desperate; some of them sent nude pictures, showing their breasts and private parts (as seen by our reporter from one of the two iPhone 6 seized from the suspect)."
On how he was arrested, Joseph said one of the ladies who wanted to be oloris demanded that he should buy her a house worth N45 million.
He said he told her to pay N5 million out of the amount and he would make up the balance.
The suspect was waiting to receive the N5 million when the police burst his residence.
"I regret my action, most especially using the name and pictures of the Ooni to perpetuate fraud. I seek his forgiveness," he said.
He was paraded alongside three armed robbers and kidnappers at the state command headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, on Monday, April 24.
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