Man Dupes 100 Land Buyers

The suspect, Muyiwa Akinwande

A 36-year old fake land speculator, Muyiwa Akinwande, has confessed to Ejigbo Magistrate’s Court sitting in Lagos State, western Nigeria that he duped over 100 land buyers.
Akinwande made the confession on Monday when he was arraigned in the court with 18-count charge of fraud and stealing under the Criminal Code.
Akinwande  was arrested by the police at Ikotun Division when it was reported that he duped at least 100 people while pretending to sell plots of land in Ogun State, western Nigeria to them.
Some of the victims include: Mrs Hamsat Bello( N100,000), Yekeen Opeyemi (N210,000), Alhaji Ismail Jegede( N260,000),  Mrs Hafsat Akinyemi (N132,000), Ismail Abdulrauf ( N210,000) and  Owolabi Emmanuel (N94,000).
According to the police, Akinwande, who resides at 1 Amindu Jimoh Street, off Governor Road, Ikotun, Lagos, advertised that he had some plots of land for sale at give-away prices.
Some of the interested buyers paid for the land and to prove to them that he was a genuine land speculator, Akinwande admitted that he issued them fake receipts bearing the name of a registered company called Future Gate Resources.

But the victims discovered that they had been conned, when they asked Akinwande to show them their plots of land so that they can start developing them and he failed to do so.
The victims said that  on a fixed  date Akinwande  took them inside a bush in Ogun State, where he apportioned some pieces of land to them.
The victims said that when they went back to the bush, the owner of the land showed up and told them that the land belonged to him.

The matter was reported to the police who arrested Akinwande and charged him to court.
When he was arraigned, he pleaded guilty.
Akinwande told the presiding magistrate, Mrs M.B. Folami, that he had no land to sell but  only used the advert  as a ploy to defraud the victims.
The matter was adjourned for fact and sentence.

June 18, 2014