Court orders arrest of Ekiti cleric over fraud

A Federal High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti has ordered the arrest of a cleric, David Folowosele, over alleged N450,000 fraud. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Justice Adamu Hobon gave the order while delivering judgment in a fraud case on Tuesday. Hobon also ordered the police to ensure that the cleric was made to provide the money without delay. Folowosele, who presides over Christ Apostolic Church, City of Defence, Ijero-Ekiti, Ijero Local Government Area of the state, allegedly collected N450,000 from one Mrs Iyabo Adeosun. According to Adeosun’s counsel, Mr Oluwatobi Fatoki, the money was for the purchase of a car. The counsel told the court that his client had confided in the cleric that she obtained a loan to build a house. He said rather than encourage Adeosun to build the house and support her with prayers, Folowosele said God revealed to him that she should buy a car instead. The counsel said the cleric collected the money from his client on the pretext of assisting her to get a good car. On realising that she had been defrauded as no car was delivered to her, the victim took the case to the police. The counsel, however, said several visits to the church by the police to recover the money proved abortive. The development, Adeosun’s counsel said, made the cleric’s counsel, Mr Austin Agbonghale, to approach the court to seek a halt to his arrest and prosecution. Hobon in his judgment, however, ruled that “an invitation by the police to investigate a purely criminal matter is constitutional.”