The police in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, have refused to act on a complaint by a man whose car was stolen by a driver named Frank Ogedegbe.
The man had given the car out on hire purchase in March 2020.
Since March 2021 when Dr Samiu Ojuade, owner of the car, reported the matter to the police in Abuja and also the office of the Inspector-General of Police, no action has been taken on the case.
SaharaReporters gathered that the police and other law enforcement agencies the case was reported to have refused to invite for questioning or arrest one Mr Daniel O. Madubike, who stood surety for the driver because he is a ‘powerful’ legislative worker at the National Assembly in Abuja.
The owner of the car and his legal team who have gone on several visits to the police headquarters in the FCT to follow up on the matter have been clearly told by officials of the law enforcement agency that the legislative worker could not be arrested because of his influence and ‘powerful’ network of top politicians in Abuja.
According to Ojuade, the investigating police officer on the case has refused to answer his phone calls or reply to messages sent to him, seeking updates on the issue.
“Sometime in February 2020, I was approached by Mr Frank Ogedegbe to be a driver for me. I told him that if he is of good behaviour, he will get the car on hire purchase. The car is a Toyota Camry 2005 model with registration number: KSF/289/GA and with chassis number; 4T1BF30K65U105020.
“I insisted that we have the transaction documented and that he would provide a guarantor; he gladly accepted these terms. He later presented as his guarantor one Daniel O. Madubike, a self-acclaimed public servant.
“It was agreed that for him to become the owner of the vehicle, the total payment expected of him was N 2, 100, 000. He was to be paying N30,000 weekly for 70 weeks.
“But to my surprise, he started defaulting in the weekly payment. By the 90th week since he collected the car, he has only paid N438,500 out of N2.1million that he should have paid by the 70th week,” he disclosed.
Ogedegbe, who is said to have taken refuge in an unknown location in Kaduna State, did not stop there – he went ahead to use the car he had yet to complete payment on to take a loan after forging the vehicle’s particulars, according to Ojuade.
Efforts to track him down since that period have been futile as the police and other law enforcement agencies have refused to act on the matter as a result of Madubike’s position at the National Assembly.
“Frank criminally claimed ownership of a vehicle he hadn’t even paid 30 per cent amount on by forging the vehicle papers. He thereafter took it to a moneylender to collect a loan.
“Despite being a pure case of stealing and breach of agreement, the police told me and my lawyers that they cannot invite for questioning or arrest the guarantor because he is influential at the National Assembly.
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“The police have all the details including home addresses of the guarantor and the driver, who has since disappeared but are refusing to act on the issue because the guarantor is a powerful public servant.
“This is a very disappointing and serious case of injustice being done to me by law enforcement agencies, especially the police.
“I only tried to provide a source of living for a fellow Nigerian, I should not suffer for doing what is right,” Ojuade added.
The spokesperson for the FCT Police Command, DSP Adeh Josephine, could not be reached for comments on the issue as calls to her mobile number failed to connect.
