A Lagos State resident, Emmanuel Ayodele, has cried out for justice as he is currently being held at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre in Apapa over a case of breach of business he reported to Zone 2 of the Nigeria Police Force.
Speaking with SaharaReporters, Ayodele said he was into haulage business in which he served as a middleman between export agents and truck owners, assisting them to look for export trucks.
He added that his work was to have his phone on and clients who are export agents would call him to help them source for containers which are ready to do export business.
In March, Ayodele said one Mr. Theophilus approached him and introduced him to an export agent, Mr. Prince Oba, who needed him to source containers for them, which he did.
“After the containers were sourced within four days, five containers were sourced for them. They promised to procure indemnity documents to prove that the containers are under their care and also to exonerate initial users of those containers.
“After the containers were sourced for them, they issued fake documents. I called them over and over for the genuine documents but they did not oblige.
“Within two weeks, I went to lay a complaint. I petitioned the AIG at Zone 2. In the month of May, Oba was tracked to the Maritime Police Station. I was told to come and lay a complaint again there, after I had complained at Zone 2 because I was told to pay N150,000 for a petition, which I didn’t have.
“At Zone 2, I paid N100,000 for the petition and I paid N200,000 for tracking and arrest. I made other subsequent payments.”
Eventually, Ayodele said the suspect was arrested and held at Maritime Police Station but they “kept the information away from Zone 2, and it was unknown to us when he was released on bail from the station.”
“Meanwhile, when the trucks came in March 2022, they came to a certain garage, a fenced-gated garage. I made enquiries to know if the garage is owned by Oba or someone else. I learnt that it is one Mr. Izu who owns the garage and Oba works for Mr. Izu. I went to trail Mr. Izu and I learned that he was arrested at Alagbon Force CID.
“We got information in June when he was to be released from the station but unfortunately, I fell sick and the containers were not available on ground when he was arrested.
“I was invited to come to the station and challenge them. I had Monkeypox, so I went to the station and I was told to go and take care of myself before I could come and challenge him.
“I went to Alagbon FCID to lay a fresh complaint against the same man and against another group of persons from whom I sourced containers, Ijeola Chukwuma of China Link.
“Alagbon FCID called them to come to the station but they all switched off their phones. In the course of that, I was rearrested at Port CID, Apapa and within five days, I was not allowed to make calls to Alagbon. They said that they were aware that Alagbon FCID sent a signal to them.”
