12th August, 2011
A cobbler, Tunde Ilufemi, 29 has told an Isolo Magistrate’s Court, Lagos how he was robbed in a hotel and charged with robbery by the police at the Olosan division, Mushin, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
He alleged that the police connived with the prostitute he slept with to put him in trouble.
Following his revelations, the police rearrested him immediately the magistrate struck out the robbery charge filed against him and took him to an unknown place.
He was beaten while being taken away by four police officers led by the investigation police officer, IPO, Corporal Gideon Akinyefa and the divisional crime officer, Olosan station, Mushin.
Trouble started for the cobbler when the magistrate struck out the case when the IPO failed to show up in court to testify against him.
The accused had told the magistrate, Mrs. M.O. Ajayi when the matter came up that the police conspired with a prostitute he slept with in a hotel to rob him of his money and thereafter charged him with robbery.
Unknown to him, the IPO who did not appear before the magistrate when the case was called, was hiding outside.
P.M.NEWS gathered that the IPO and others who were monitoring the case from outside the court were not comfortable with Ilufemi’s revelations because of its implication on the image of the police and immediately arrested him after he was discharged.
When P.M.NEWS visited Olosan station on the matter, the station officer told our reporter that he was not aware of Ilufemi’s arrest and detention.
Ilufemi had earlier told the court at a previous sitting that the prostitute he slept with in a hotel in Mushin informed the police that he had a large sum of money with him in the hotel.
He alleged that the police forced his room open, battered him and took his money, including his handsets.
He disclosed that the N31,000 taken from him and other items were not returned to him even when he was charged to court.
He alleged that the police tricked him to plead guilty to the charge as a condition to regain his freedom.
Ilufemi was charged with robbery, but the charge did not state the person he robbed.
The accused told the court further that his predicament started after he won the local lottery popularly known as Baba Ijebu and decided to pass a night with a woman in a hotel.
He went to a hotel in Mushin and engaged the services of a prostitute simply identified as Beauty. He said that he did not know that the girl he slept with was a dubious person who connived with the police to put him in trouble.
While he was still in the hotel, the girl tipped off the police who forced his hotel room open and arrested him for robbery.
The guilty plea he made earlier was changed to not guilty by the magistrate and he was granted bail.
A date was fixed for trial but the IPO failed to turn up and the accused was acquitted and discharged by the magistrate.
— Cyriacus Izuekwe