Published 15th Feb, 2022

By Yakubu Mohammed

Sokunbi Damilola, an Abeokuta-based aluminium fabricator, has narrated how Mohammed Seedu, a car dealer, influenced the Ogun State Police Command to detain him and his friends after defrauding him of N3 million.

Damilola told FIJ Seedu is well known to the police in Ogun because he was the one who helped most of the officers, including Abimbola Oyeyemi, the state’s police spokesperson, get their vehicles.

He met Seedu in September 2021, after one of his church members, who is also a police officer, introduced him as a reliable car dealer.

“In September 2021, a church member of mine, who is a police officer, introduced me to the man. He said Seedu helped them buy cars at the police headquarters, Eleweran,” Damilola told FIJ.

He opted for a vehicle worth N3 million. “On September 8, 2021, I journeyed to Coutonue, Benin Republic, with the dealer to get my car. He asked me to send N3 million to a certain bank account and told me to go back to Nigeria.”

“When I got home, I told the police officer everything, and he assured me that the man was trustworthy. In fact, he said the same man helped some senior officers, including the PPRO, Abimbola Oyeyemi, secure their vehicles.”

The next time Damilola spoke with the dealer, he was told to expect his car in one week, but he has not seen the vehicle.

“We talk via phone call and voice chat, but since the beginning of this year, he hasn’t picked up my call or replied to my chats,” Damilola said.

On getting a report of what had happened, the PPRO pleaded with Damilola, saying Seedu would deliver the vehicle. “He said I needed to be patient with him, adding that he would call him to start picking my calls. But up till now, he does not pick my calls nor reply to my chats,” said Damilola.

On February 13, 2022, Damilola got a hint from his friends that the dealer was in a car wash around Olomore, Ogun State. He went there, but sighting him, the man drove off. “He almost hit me while trying to escape,” Damilola told FIJ.

Seedu drove to Lafenwa Police Station to accuse Damilola and his friends of attempting to lynch him. “I, Saheed, Azeez and Gafar were paraded by the police,” said Damilola.

“They said we attempted to rob Seedu and that we also broke his glasses. The manager of the car wash and other witnesses told the police that what Seedu said was not true.”

Surprisingly, the dealer reported the incident to the Ogun police spokesperson, and he ordered the DPO of Lafenwa to detain the accused, according to Damilola.

He said the DPO of Lafenwa police station was willing to help after hearing his ordeal, but was scared of the police spokesperson.

Seedu refused to respond to FIJ’s enquiry. When Oyeyemi, the Ogun police spokesperson, was contacted, he said he was in a meeting. He asked for a text message, but had not responded to it at press time.

However, after the story was published, Oyeyemi responded thus: “In the first instance, he never reported any matter to me talk less of pleading on behalf of anybody. I didn’t even know the said Shokunbi Damilola.

“On February 13th, somebody called me and reported to me that he was attacked by a group of boys led by two boys whom he knows very well. He alleged that they broke his car and went away with unspecified amounts of money. I then asked him to go and report at the nearest police station, which he did. So what is my own issue there?”

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