Ex-Banker in Police custody over N14.9m fraud in Edo

Gift Igbinosun, a former staff of Keystone Bank in Edo State is currently in custody of the Edo State Police command for alleged fraud.

Gift, 35, was recently apprehended by men of the Edo State Police command after the police received two separate reports of financial fraud against the her.

The former banker is said to have defrauded one Mr John Nnamdi of 7.35 million naira and Mr Obasogie Osagieduwa of 7.6 million naira.

Both debts  are now totalling over 14.9 million naira.

The Edo State police spokesperson, Chidi Nwabuzor in a statement, disclosed that the suspect who had been sacked by her employer (Keystone Bank) two years ago, defrauded the victims under the pretence of helping them to get new notes.

He said the suspect was arrested on July 20 by operatives attached to the State Intelligence Bureau while acting on a complaint of alleged impersonation, conspiracy, advance fee fraud, obtaining money by false pretence, fraudulent conversion and stealing reported by the victims.

“The suspect paraded herself as a staff member of Keystone Bank and fraudulently obtained N7.35m from Mr John Onuora Nnamdi. Also, the suspect paraded herself as a staff member of the same bank and fraudulently obtained N7.6m from Mr Obasogie Osagieduwa.

“They gave her the money with the hope that as she was collecting the money, she would replace them with new notes, not knowing that she was no longer working with the bank.”

According to Chidi who said investigation on the  had been concluded and the suspect would be charged to court.

Meanwhile, the suspect while speaking to journalists explained that, “Before now, I have been giving Nnamdi clean notes and he would give me a commission. But I couldn’t meet up any more, so I owed him. The second person, Henry, I couldn’t give him any mint but I returned N2.5m to him, remaining the balance of N5.1m. This has been going on for some months now. I was sacked by the bank about two years ago.”

In another news, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA has said approximately, 14.3 million Nigerians within the age range of 15 and 64 years are involved in drug abuse.

The Ogun state Commander of the NDLEA, Ibiba Odili, made this known during the Launch of the War Against Drug Abuse in Abeokuta on Saturday.

According to Odili, the recent practice of involving women in drug abuse in the country, is alarming.

She submitted that in “2018, a survey tells us that the most common drug abused in Nigeria is cannabis, which regrettably is cultivated mostly in the southwest region of Nigeria.

“That, one out of every four drug users is a woman. In 2018 data shows that more women are going into drug use. And if more women are going into drug use, it is a source of worry for us, because;

“…it means that the traditional row of women in families and communities are caregivers, role models, and live moulders will be threatened, because what quality of children are these women going to raise.”

Odili appeared to be worried about the fate of her country, Nigeria, who has migrated from a mere transit country for drug trafficking to a major consumer and even producer of illicit substances, adding that young people are now getting creative and innovative in finding new ways to get high.

“We started by being a transit country, consuming maybe cannabis, alcohol, and all of that, then, we graduated to heroin, cocaine, but today, regrettably, Nigeria is not just transit, we are huge consumers, and we are not just cultivator of cannabis, we are now producing drugs, such as methamphetamine, which is highly addictive, very potent.”

She added that they now abuse household substances like methylated spirit, glue, nail polish, paint thinner, fermented urine, and even the heads of matches, as this contributes to the complexity of the drug abuse issue.

The Police Boss warned against the use of such drugs and drug production, especially substances like methamphetamine.

She explained that regions involved in producing such drugs may suffer from various forms of cancer and other terminal diseases within a decade or two.

She urged the stakeholders to take an active role in addressing the drug abuse problem, especially considering Nigeria’s large youth population