A cab driver, Peter Adeniji, has accused men of the Dopemu Police Station, Lagos State Police Command, of unlawfully detaining and arraigning him for a crime allegedly committed by his passenger.

Adeniji is also at loggerheads with the police for impounding his means of livelihood – a Nissan Almeira – since July 12, 2017.

Reports have it that the passenger, identified as Kolawole, struck a business relationship with Adeniji sometime in June 2017, when Kolawole went to the latter’s park at Ota, Ogun State, to get a cab.

It was gathered that Kolawole lauded Adeniji’s experience and chose him as a regular cab driver.

The victim reportedly started taking him to different places where he discussed business transactions with his clients.

The father of two children said he had, on Wednesday, July 12, taken Kolawole’s wife to Agege on her husband’s instruction, when they were arrested by some policemen.

He said the police accused him of being an accomplice to Kolawole, who allegedly defrauded some persons under false pretences of helping them to procure Saudi Arabia visas, adding that he was oblivious of Kolawole’s business until that day.

Adeniji said, “It was when we got to the station that the police said he defrauded some people, who wanted to go to hajj, of N3m. I told them I was a cab man and not his personal driver. I also told them that I stood outside whenever he had meetings with his clients and that he once sent me to collect N15,000.00 for him from a client without telling me the purpose of the money.

“His wife told them that I didn’t know anything about her husband’s business. I was detained till the following day and my people came to take my bail with N25,000.00.

“I promised to assist them in arresting him and the following Monday, I led them to Abeokuta, Ogun State, where I once drove him to. But we didn’t find him there. They asked me to come and take my car the following day.

“When I got to the station around 1pm on Tuesday, they charged me and the man’s wife to court on seven counts of fraud. I spent over two weeks in the Kirikiri Prison before my bail conditions were perfected.”

The 39-year-old stated that in the course of searching for Kolawole after his bail, he discovered that the suspect had been detained at the Onipanu Police Division.

He said he met Kolawole at the station when he was about to be transferred to the Dopemu division.

“The Onipanu Divisional Police Officer asked him the relationship between us and he said I was his cab driver. The DPO asked him if I knew the job he did and he said no. He was asked to put it in writing,” he added.

Adeniji told our correspondent that before Kolawole was arrested, he had absolved him from the allegation in a telephone conversation they had.

In the recording of the alleged conversation obtained by our correspondent, Kolawole warned the driver to stop helping the police in their search for him.

Kolawole, who spoke in Yoruba, said, “There is little that concerns you about this issue. You were only doing your job by taking Alhaja (his wife) there when the problem happened. You don’t know anything about my business.

“With the relationship between us, is it right that you are the one leading the police around to arrest me?

“Those people wanted to go for pilgrimage and it was my job. Some people only wanted to blackmail me. Have I failed the complainants on the time I told them they would go? My company is registered. I don’t expect you to be doing this to me with the trust I have in you.

“This issue does not concern you and I apologise that you were arrested. But what do you stand to gain in giving the police information about me? I am not a fraudster.”

Adeniji said it was difficult for him to fend for his family as the police refused to release his car.

“That is my only source of livelihood. My family has been displaced because I cannot pay rent. My wife and our two children have relocated to her parents’ house in Abeokuta, while I live with my elder sister in Ayobo, Lagos State,” he added.

However, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Olarinde Famous-Cole, said Adeniji was accessory to the alleged fraud.

He said, “The case has been charged to court and exhibits registered. The driver has not come for his car. If he thinks that he is not guilty, he should allow court proceedings and police investigations to prove him so or otherwise.

“The man is a suspect. He was involved in the collection of money from the complainants for the principal suspect, who is notorious for defrauding people under false pretences of procuring Saudi visas for hajj.”

 

Source: Punchng.com

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