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Police at the Igando division of the command in Lagos on Monday, witnessed a mild drama as a 48-year-old herbalist, who was arrested for allegedly defrauding a 70-year-old woman of N500,000, engaged the complainant in a war of words.
Denying that he defrauded the woman, the herbalist, Akin Babalola, reportedly placed his index finger on the ground, touched his tongue with same finger before lifting it to the sky, an expression, he said, was to indicate that he was saying the truth.
He said that the 70-year-old woman “came to my house and asked that I prepare a love potion for her to win back her husband.
“She told me that her husband abandoned her for another woman, thereby saddling her with the responsibility of bringing up their children alone.”
But the woman waited for the supposed love potion in vain. She then asked the herbalist to refund her money, but he refused and threatened, instead, to expose her.
She then decided to report the matter to the police.
Babalola however gave reasons why he failed to keep his own side of the bargain, saying “I do not want to incur God’s wrath because the love potion could lead to the man’s death.”
But the woman insisted that the herbalist collected the money under false pretence.
The police charged Babalola to court on a three-count charge of felony, obtaining under false pretence and stealing.