By Favour Goodness
A 44-year-old man has been arrested by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Ondo State Command, for allegedly defrauding desperate job seekers in the state.
The suspect, Ayodele Ige, who was said to be a notorious swindler, had for a while been on the wanted list of the command following a series of complaints against him by his victims.
Before his arrest by the Counter-Terrorist Unit of the Command, Ige, a resident of Okuta Elerinla Estate, Akure, the state capital, had collected N1.9m from 19 of his victims.
According to the suspect, who confessed to the crime while he was paraded at the NSCDC State Headquarters, Alagbaka, Akure, he used to operate with a network of connections to get his victims as well as a supposed aide to a top government functionary.
He further maintained that he was able to collect the sum of N1.9m from the victims between November 2019 and May 2020 in exchange for a job offer.
Speaking on the development, the State Commandant, Hammed Abodunrin Abubakar stated that after his arrest which was followed by subsequent investigation, it was revealed that Ige took a sum of N1.3m by bank transfer to his personal account number, First Bank 2024392758.
The State Commandant also maintained that the suspect in his statement disclosed that part of the money was sent to one Mr Adu for the job slot for NDLEA, Civil Defence and Federal lecturing job.
The suspect, who also collected credentials from his victim, was also accused of threatening them following initial moves to raise alarm.
While stating that the suspect would be charged to court for the violation of Section 112 of the Criminal Code Act 2006 and other extant laws at the expiration of ongoing investigation over the case, the NSCDC Commandant, urged the people and desperate job hunters to refrain from giving money to fraudsters to avoid being swindled.
