By Chioma Okezie-Okeh
A professional driver, Harrison Samuel was well dressed and with a long list of guarantors when he stepped into a recruitment agency in Lekki area of Lagos in search of a job.
He smiled sheepishly when he was informed same day that there is a rich woman in need of a driver and the salary will be N60, 000a month. Unknown to the recruitment agency and employer, Harrison who is 46 was not interested in the job, but to steal the vehicle.
After confirming the contacts of his guarantors, which was later confirmed to have been arranged by his accomplices, Harrison was asked to resume work immediately. He immediately chatted with his employer who is a woman and deceived her into believing that he was sent by God. Within three hours of resumption, he made use of the slightest opportunity when the woman stepped down to pick groceries and fled to Ogun. Luckily his latest victim simply identified as Janet alerted the police and operatives of Lagos Police Command Special Squad tracked him down and arrested him.
Confirming his arrest, the state command spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, a Superintendent of Police told Saturday Sun that on July 7, 2022, one Janet reported to the Commissioner of Police, Sylvester Alabi that the domestic driver she employed same day absconded with her Toyota Venza, two iphones, one Apple laptop, passport and other valuables.
He said: “Upon receipt, operatives of the Commissioner of Police, Special Squad (CPSS) were assigned to investigate. Through tactical intelligence gathering they were able to arrest the suspect on July 23 at Isolo area of Lagos where he was taking refuge and the stolen vehicle was subsequently recovered from him. It was revealed that his accomplice known as Jerry who planned the act with him absconded with the victim’s iPhone, laptop, passport and other valuables. He will be charged to court while the operatives have intensified efforts to track down his accomplice.”
On his arrest, police source explained the suspect called his employer and demanded N200,000 in exchange for the SUV(Sport Utility Vehicle). He was still negotiating with the victim when operatives tracked him down and got him arrested. He was alleged to have sold all the valuables found in the car and was negotiating with a buyer when he was arrested.
Story of my life
In tears and begging for mercy Harrison blamed the devil for reminding him that he could make quick money by selling the car. “I am Samuel Harrison from Ogoja in Cross River. I am married with three children. I relocated to Lagos 2017. My family is based in the village. I am a professional driver and the last job I did was for a family in Imo State that I served for 11 years. The man died so I lost the Job. I relocated to the village to do farming but I was not making enough to sustain my family, so I relocated to Lagos and stayed with a friend known as Jerry. Jerry is also from my village and we were childhood friends. I have been off and on job till sometime in July, I went to a recruitment agency at Ikota complex at Lekki and applied for a job. The owner of the agency was excited and said that there is a woman who is urgently looking for a driver and he wants an elderly person.
“I was employed to work for the woman who lives at Victoria Gardens City in Lagos and was to be paid N60, 000 a month. I went to her house and she tested my driving skill and was impressed. She asked me to resume same day and drive her to Lekki. The rain was falling that day and she asked me to drive her into a shopping complex to buy something. Immediately she left me, I decided to run away with the SUV. I believe it was the devil that took over my mind since the woman is very rich. I called my friend Jerry and he asked me to bring the car, that he would get a buyer at Agbara area of Ogun State.
“It was there that I parked the car and burglars broke the window and stole all her valuables. They took her phone and computer. I was not the one who sold them,” he narrated.
Insisting that he was not the one who called to extort money from the victim, Harrison alleged that it was Jerry. “I am not heartless like that. It is enough punishment that I stole her car and all her valuables. It was Jerry that asked me to give him the phone number of the woman. I do not know what he wanted to do with it. It was at the police station that I learnt that he threatened the woman and asked for N200, 000.
“I am so ashamed of myself and beg madam Janet to forgive me. I have three children and a wife at home. I was so desperate to change their lives and move them over to Lagos to stay with me. Look at what I did to myself, I did not sell the car, I did not receive salary and I am about going to jail. I am so sorry, heaven knows that this is my first time of trying this kind of thing,” he said in tears.