A Lagos-based developer, Olakanmi Ogundele, has raised alarm after a newly hired driver, Olufemi Jogbodo, allegedly disappeared with his Gelly Saloon car (registration AGL 586 GW) just four days into the job.
Ogundele told the Punch Metro team on Sunday that the driver who first introduced himself as “Adeleye” was assigned to him by his company’s manager on November 18 after his former driver fell ill. Jogbodo reportedly accompanied him on a work trip to Ijebu Ode the same day and returned with him to Lagos on November 20.
Ogundele said the driver also took him to his office the following day. But while Ogundele was in a meeting, the driver allegedly told a security guard that he had been sent on an errand and then left with the vehicle, never to return.
“My driver was sick, so the company arranged a replacement. We travelled together to Ijebu Ode on October 18 and came back on October 20. The next day, he took me to my office in Ikoyi. While I was in a meeting, he told security I sent him somewhere. They couldn’t confirm because the meeting was ongoing. That was how he left with the car,” Ogundele said.
He reported the incident to the tactical team at the Ikoyi Police Division, who began tracking the suspect. However, he lamented that little progress has been made since.
A document shared with the Punch Metro team showed that the suspect is 44 years old and lives on Dele Ogunbowale Street in the Ikate area of Lagos. It also revealed that he operates 11 different bank accounts.
Ogundele added that some of the suspect’s relatives were traced and briefly detained.
“We arrested his wife’s sister and one of his cousins, but we had to release them because they had exceeded the legal detention period. We also discovered he has a 75-year-old mother in Agbado Ijaiye, but we couldn’t arrest her due to her age,” he said.
The company manager who sourced the driver was also arrested and questioned.
“We interrogated the manager. He claimed he couldn’t verify the driver’s information because I needed to travel urgently. He didn’t do proper due diligence. All the details he provided were fake. The driver gave the name ‘Adeleye,’ but his real name is Olufemi,” Ogundele said.
He added that plans are underway to place a bounty on the suspect to aid his capture and recover the vehicle.
ICYMI
Efforts to reach the state Police Public Relations Officer, Adebisi Abimbola, were unsuccessful, as calls and messages went unanswered as of press time.
In August, the Punch Metro team reported that the Lagos State Police Command uncovered a car-theft syndicate that planted fake drivers with unsuspecting employers. The Commissioner of Police, Olohundare Jimoh, said the gang’s leader, Chinedu Emmanuel, was arrested on July 17 in Ogijo, Ogun State. According to him, the group supplied drivers who worked briefly with employers before fleeing with their vehicles, which were then smuggled across national borders.
