“Bless me pastor.”
What usually follows this plea, I mostly find outrageous.
But that’s a story for another day.
The Police in Lagos today arraigned a 27-year-old man, Yusuf Atanda, who was charged with impersonating Pastor Enoch Adeboye and two other church general overseers to defraud members of the public.
According to the Police, Atanda created fake Facebook accounts of Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God; Pastor D.K. Olukoya of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry; and Pastor T.B. Joshua of the Synagogue Church of All Nations to dupe people.
The defendant, who resides at Okokomaiko, Lagos, is being tried for cyber crime before Magistrate M.O. Tanimola in Ikeja.
Atanda, however, denied committing the offence, and was admitted to bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum.
Tanimola said that the sureties should be gainfully employed and show evidence of two years’ tax payment to the Lagos State Government.
He added that the defendant used the names of the three general overseers on the internet without their consents for crimes he committed in October 2018, at Okokomaiko.
“Atanda created a fake Facebook accounts of Pastor E.A. Adeboye of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor D.K. Olukoya of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry and Pastor T.B. Joshua of Synagogue Church of All Nations.
“He posed as the pastors and sent electronic messages to the public to deposit either N1,000 or N2,000 into a bank account to get N3,000 or N5,000, respectively in four days.
“If they pay and it is four days, he will block the persons’ numbers so they would not be able to reach him anymore.
Note that this offence violates Section 20 (1) of Cybercrime (Prohibition and Prevention) Act, Law of Federation, 2015.
The case was adjourned until April 17 for mention.
(NAN)
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