The mother of a cashier of the Eat ‘N’ Go Limited, operating at the company’s Coldstone Creamery branch in Abule Ado, Moses Ojo, has been remanded by a Magistrate’s Court sitting in Apapa, Lagos State.
The mother was remanded because Ojo, who was accused of theft at his place of work, fled during his arraignment.
It was alleged that Ojo’s mother aided his escape during a meeting she held outside the court room with the complainant and her son after the magistrate proposed they settle out of court.
NIGERIACRIME gathered that Ojo was arraigned for allegedly defrauding the company by using his account to trade with customers.
This, according to reports, has become a tradition by some of the company staff members.
In a bid to trace those involved in the fraudulent transactions, it was learnt that the company reported the case to the police and during the investigation, the police arrested Ojo.
Ojo’s sister, Nifemi, narrated her side of the story saying, “A customer told my brother about having issues with transfer. So, he asked my brother if he had an OPay or Palmpay account. My brother told him he has and the customer begged him if he could transfer to him, but my brother said it was an offence as the company does not allow such.
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“The customer pleaded and told him he would wait for him to confirm the transaction which he did. He immediately sent the money to the company and then informed his General Manager who told him he should have called him before doing such as nobody would believe he was trying to help.
“He was later called from the head office and was arrested some hours later and taken to the police station. On Tuesday, my mother went to the station and the DPO advised that she should beg the G.M. and repay the money but the G.M. insisted my brother must go to jail.”
Commenting on why their mother was remanded Nifemi said they alleged that she facilitated her brother’s escape in court.
She said, “My mother called me from the court on Wednesday that she had been handcuffed. She told me that the magistrate said N11, 000 is not a case that she would allow them to go on trial for and allowed them to call the man the company assigned to handle the case, Muritala Ifenaike.
“They called the man on the phone and he said the boy has to go to jail. So, my mum said she followed the magistrate when she left where she was and by the time she returned to the court, her son was nowhere to be found.
“That was how they accused her of aiding my brother’s escape. She said some people said she was caught on a motorcycle trying to escape with her son. When I visited my mum in the prison on Saturday, my mum told me that they asked her to get N50,000 for bail.”
The incident was confirmed by the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin.
He said, “The boy was arraigned and was kept in the dock to be cross-examined. He was in it when the magistrate asked for his offence and when the magistrate heard it was N11, 000, she was surprised.
“The magistrate instructed the young man, his mother and the complainant to go out of the court and conclude on how the money would be refunded so that she can strike out the case.
“They went out and after some minutes, the complainant came in and said the mother had allowed her son to escape. As a result, the magistrate asked the mother to be detained and asked that extra charges be added for aiding the escape of her son.”