The suspect, Asifu Ajinikirun with iterms recovered from him
A self-acclaimed Islamic cleric, Asifu Ajinikirun (32), who was named by a fake medical doctor, Mrs Damilola Ojo, as the one who collected N48.5million for a non-existing oil and gas business, has denied being involved in any shady deal with the woman.
Ajinikirun, in whose house fetish items and several dry bones, including one suspected to be the lower jaw of a human being, were found, also disclosed that he combined his Islamic cleric job with that of a native doctor because the latter was his forefathers’ mode of worship.
The state Commissioner of Police had told Crime Reports that Ajinikirun belonged to a syndicate of fraudsters and had relocated from Itire, Lagos State to Ibadan. Part of his antics, Oyebade said, was the use of a fake idol known as Osanyin which he cleverly crafted using batteries.
His arrest, it was learnt, was a follow-up on the confession of the fake doctor who told the police that it was Ajinikirun who introduced oil and gas business to her; and that he had collected the sum of N48.5million from her, made up of her own money and that of other clients.
But Ajinikirun denied the allegations, saying that the only amount he collected from Mrs Ojo was about N700,000 which she paid for the jobs he did for her.
According to the suspect, “I am an Islamic cleric. I pray for clients and do some jobs for them. The fetish items found with me were those that I inherited from my forefathers. I combine tradition with religion. I was surprised when I was arrested over Damilola’s claim that I collected N48.5 million from her. It is true that I know her. Someone took me to her to settle a matter between her and another Aafa.
“Along the line, she asked me to do some prayers concerning her hospital and the chemist shop she had so that the businesses could get a boost. She also said she was pregnant but that it was not being detected by scan. She said she had been advised to seek help in the traditional way.
“The only time I heard about the oil and gas business was October 2015 when she told me that the person from whom she collected N22 million was troubling her that she should take him to the people in charge of the business.
“She also said that the people she was doing the business with had said she should not bring him, so that he would not take her place in the business. I knew she was lying because I didn’t understand how she could have taken so much from someone for business without showing him those using the money for the business.
“What she wanted me to do for her then was a charm that would make the person not to ask for his money again. Meanwhile, I had been hinted that she was fraudulent. I didn’t collect a kobo from for any oil and gas business. But I collected up to N700,000 for the prayers and others jobs I did for her.”
When asked about the fetish objects which were recovered in his house, including idols popularly called Osanyin in Yoruba, Ajinikirun replied: “Many people know me as an Aafa; I also know myself as one. There is no idol among the objects. The Osanyin is an ordinary artwork to deceive people. The small coffin was used to keep charmed soap. The effigy is for authority while praying.”
Speaking on the human jaw bone that was found among other bones recovered from him, Ajinikirun said he bought it along with other bones from Benin Republic.
“I wanted to use it to prepare a fortune charm but it had been long that I bought it. One can do the charm through different methods,” he said.
When asked whether he was a native doctor or an Islamic cleric that he claimed, the suspect said: “I am not a native doctor but it was the foundation of my forefathers. We only acquired the knowledge of the Qur’an through learning. My forefather’s name was Awojide.” When asked again why he chose to add diabolic ways with his Islamic religion, Ajinikirun’s answer was simply: “Olorun o tun wa se (God will remould all of us).”
He however said that he had never defrauded anyone but only attended to the spiritual needs of those who came to him.
- Nigerian Tribune