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.