Lovers in police custody as LG boss loses N1.35m

Limping, bruised and red- eyed, Dickson Asuquo and Ibikunle Kolawole consider themselves lucky to be alive today. They were survivors of a mob attack purportedly organised by the chairman of the Oto/Awori Local Council Development Authority, Lagos State, Mr. Bolaji Kayode, who was reportedly defrauded of N1.35m last Thursday.

Asuquo and Kolawole were allegedly attacked after they were said to have been suspected of being the brains behind the disappearance of the money from the LG chairman’s private safe.

A female undergraduate, Joke Kayode who is a daughter of Kayode, was said to be on her way to school last Thursday when she was accosted by some fraudsters.

Crime Digest learnt that she was allegedly hypnotised and taken to Iyana-Ipaja, where she was directed to the money in her father’s safe. Joke was said to have taken N1.35m from the safe and handed it to the fraudsters. It wasn’t until the fraudsters had made away with their loot that the hypnotised student regained her senses.

The victim of the fraud, however, claimed that Asuquo was a member of the gang that hypnotised her a day earlier, a claim that is still under investigation of the Lagos Police Command.

A friend of Asuquo, who is currently cooling his feet behind the bars at the Ijanikin Police Station, said he got a call from the suspect that he was in trouble.

“I was surprised when I learnt that the chairman’s daughter had identified him as a member of the group, who had hypnotised and defrauded her of her father’s N1.35m the day before. His house and that of his girlfriend have been searched and nothing found there, yet he is still in police custody,” said the friend, who craved anonymity.

Kolawole, however, claimed she had never met Joke before.

“I had never met Joke (Kayode) before,” Kolawole said. “The only reason I accosted her last Friday was because I loved the attire she had on; I sew clothes. I went to her and told her that I loved her clothes; I could do something like that.

“I wanted her to patronise me. I asked for her number, but she said she didn’t have a phone so I gave her mine.”

About 45 minutes later, Kolawaole allegedly got a telephone call from her potential client. “She told me to meet her somewhere; at the time I was with my boyfriend Asuquo. I wasn’t even expecting a call from her so soon, but I asked Asuquo to take me there because by then, we were on our way to a restaurant,” she said.

On getting to the agreed spot, Asuquo recalled that he was confused when he saw some unidentified persons descending on Kolawole as she excitedly approached Robert and the band that had come with her, including her mother.

“Two men alighted from a motorcycle as Ibikunle (Kolawole) went to meet them. Another two came up from behind. They seized Kolawole as soon as she walked up to them and started beating her. I was confused. I didn’t know what to do.

“I drove away from the area and called a friend to assist me. When he told me he wasn’t at home, I had to park my car and walk back to where my girlfriend was being attacked,” he said.

The mob descended on Asuquo as he arrived at the ‘scene of war’ and was identified as a companion of the badly beaten lady.

“We were beaten with anything they could lay their hands on. All the time, Joke (Robert) was there with her mother. Nobody even told us why we were being beaten. It wasn’t until we were taken to the police station that we were told that some people had defrauded the chairman of N1.35m and that Joke had identified me as the driver of the vehicle,” Asuquo said.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Frank Mba, said the case was an issue between the chairman’s daughter (Joke) and the suspects in the police custody.

“Our challenge right now is reconciling the evidence of the victim and those of the suspects and establishing the veracity of the victim’s claims,” Mba said.

Text messages sent to the phone of the chairman Oto/Aworo LCDA were not responded to. A male voice who answered, when a call was made to the same number, claimed the chairman was not around. “I will tell him you called when he comes back,” he said.
Source:punchng.com