The police in Lagos have arrested a
40-year-old car painter, Sunday Arowolo, for allegedly “stealing” a
Toyota Matrix of one Mrs. Anueylagu Ifeyinwa, a teacher.
PUNCH Metro learnt that
Ifeyinwa had in July 2014 given the car to Arowolo, who lives in Omo-Oba
Estate, Ori-Okuta, Ikorodu, to help her sell it for N2.5m.
The police said one Vallentine, who is still at large, had acted as an intermediary between Ifeyinwa and the suspect.
The woman was said to have demanded that
Arowolo return the car when he was unable to get a buyer for it on
time, but he reportedly declined, saying he had already sold it to
someone on credit.
PUNCH Metro gathered that
Ifeyinwa eventually reported the matter at the Owutu Police Station in
September 2015, when her efforts to get either the money or the car from
Arowolo proved abortive.
Our correspondent gathered that he paid
the woman N1.5m afterwards, while the case was later transferred to Zone
2 police headquarters, Onikan, in December.
The Osun State indigene, in his
statement to the police, said he had used the car in exchange of a plot
of land in the Ibeju-Lekki area of the state. He added that he was
supposed to give the woman N2.3m for the car, out of which he had
already paid N1.5m.
He said, “It was Valentine, who
introduced me to Mrs. Ifeyinwa as a car dealer. She gave me her Toyota
Matrix, valued at N2.5m, to help her sell it. I placed the vehicle for
sale, but I did not get a buyer. In January 2015, I called the woman
that she should let me use the car in exchange for a parcel of land, but
she refused.
“Someone later priced it for N1.9m but
the person did not come back. I then used the car to collect a plot of
land at Ibeju-Lekki. I had paid her N1.5m with a promise to pay her a
balance of N800,000 in January, 2016.”
Arowolo was arraigned before an Igbosere
Magistrates’ Court by a police prosecutor, Inspector Stephen Moloh, on
three counts of stealing.
The charges read in part, “That you,
Sunday Arowolo, and others still at large, on July 7, 2014, at about
10am, on Ayo Ajileye Street, Ori-Okuta, Ikorodu, Lagos, in the Lagos
Magisterial District, did conspire among yourselves to commit felony to
wit: stealing, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section
409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011.
“That you, and others now at large on
the same date, time and place in the aforementioned magisterial
district, did steal one Toyota Matrix valued at N2.5m, property of Mrs.
Anueyiagu Ifeyinwa, thereby committing an offence contrary to and
punishable under Section 285 (10) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State,
Nigeria, 2011.”
The defendant pleaded not guilty and was
granted bail by the magistrate, Mr. Martins Owumi, in the sum of
N300,000 with two sureties in like sum.
The case was adjourned till January 19, 2016.
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