9th February, 2011
An eighty-one year old man, Pa Raufu Adetunji Dada has lost one of his legs after being allegedly tortured by detectives at the Special Fraud Unit, Milverton Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
In an affidavit attached to his suit at the Lagos High Court, sitting at Ikeja, Pa Dada claimed that his confidant, Reverend Frederick Odutola of the Bible Society of Nigeria dragged him to the unit where he was tortured and in the process lost his right leg.
The octogenarian has now dragged Rev. Odutola to the Lagos High Court, seeking justice.
In his suit with number ID/06/2011, Pa Dada claimed that he gave Rev. Odutola about 42 thousand dollars to buy land and erect a four-bedroom bungalow at Isheri-Olofin, on the outskirts of Lagos in 2005. The money, after it was converted to naira at the existing exchange rate then was about N12 million.
He claimed that Rev. Odutola built a house on Plot 30, Iroko Estate, Isheri, Lagos and after completing it asked him to pay an outrageous N20 million as balance for the completion of the house.
“I contacted Harriman and Company, a firm of estate surveyors and valuers and they put the value of the house at N10 million,†he stated.
On the strength of this, Pa Dada asked Rev. Odutola to render account of how he spent his money and when he refused, the plaintiff rejected his claim for a balance to be paid.
On 25 November, 2009, Rev. Odutola, he stated, wrote a petition to the SFU, FCID, Ikoyi, Lagos, alleging threat to life and obtaining money under false pretence against Pa Dada.
Pa Dada was arrested, detained and was forced to write an agreement to pay N4m balance to the defendant. His vehicle, he added, was also impounded.
“The aggravated stress I got from the defendant, the detention and deprivation of my medication by the police eventually landed me in a hospital where my leg was amputated after spending four months,†he stated.
On how he knew the defendant, he claimed that he was introduced to him by a family friend as a trustworthy man.
Pa Dada lamented that he was disappointed by his action because he trusted him so much and lived in the accommodation he provided for him when he returned to Nigeria after spending 40 years in the United Kingdom.
In a swift reaction, Rev. Odutola denied all the allegations and described Pa Dada as an ingrate. He explained that he treated him like a father and lodged him in a guest house at his expense for two years “but now he is paying me evil for good.â€
He said he accounted for all the money he gave him and he authorised him to incur the expenses.
Rev. Odutola disclosed further that Pa Dada lavished his money on women and deceived him into using his money to continue building his house only to discover that he was not telling him the truth.
The date for the hearing has not been fixed.
—Cyricaus Izuekwe