Four persons have allegedly duped an unsuspecting man of N1.6m while claiming that they could get him to start playing professional football with Manchester City FC.
The suspects: Zainab Abdullahi, 26; Olanrewaju Mariam, 25; Sulaimon Abdulatif, 24 and Yehuza Jubril, 23, whose addresses were not given, are now standing trial on three counts of felony, stealing and fraud.
The Prosecutor, Insp Edet Ekpo, told the Badagry Chief Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday [today] that the defendants committed the offences between January and July at Low Cost Housing Estate, Badagry, Lagos.
Ekpo said that the defendants conspired among themselves to obtain money under false pretence.
“The defendants obtained N1,600,000 from one Abdul-Salam Idris, the complainant, under the pretence of taking him to Manchester City Football Club in England to play football, knowing full well that they were agents to no club.
“The defendants converted the money to their own use,” he said.
The police in Lagos on Wednesday arraigned the four suspects comprising two men and two women before a Badagry Chief Magistrates’ Court over alleged fraud.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
According to Ekpo, the offences contravene Sections 411, 314 and 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The Chief Magistrate, Mr. N.A. Layeni, granted the defendants bail in the sum of N1 million each, with two sureties each in like sum.
He said that each of the sureties must be a company director.
Layeni also said that each of the sureties must deposit N25,000 to the Chief Registrar of the court.
He, thereafter, adjourned the case till August 15 for hearing. (NAN)
