EFCC Arrests Former Kwara LG Lawmaker For Leading Car Theft Gang

A former councilor in the Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara
State, Samuel Opeyemi Adeojo, has been arrested by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission.

Adeojo was fingered as the leader of a car theft syndicate
notorious for stealing vehicles from car dealers through pretense
as genuine buyers.

Until his arrest recently, the EFCC had been on his trail after
series of petitions against his gang’s criminal activities were
considered by the Commission’s Ibadan zonal office.

No fewer than three cases of car theft have been established
against the syndicate, with all the vehicles involved recovered and
kept in the Commission’s custody in Ibadan.

Investigations revealed that the gang deploys similar pattern of
tricks to steal vehicles from their victims.

According to EFCC’s findings, Adeojo often pretend to be a
medical doctor, adopting different names and different institutions
as his place of work to appear responsible and create false sense
of confidence to penetrate the victims.

One of the many cases reported involved a Toyota Avensis wagon
car in which Adeojo claimed to be one Dr. Gboyega Omojola of the
University College Hospital, Ibadan.

The case was reported to the EFCC, Ibadan office on March 23,
2019, by Tunde Adejuwon, an Ibadan-based car dealer.

According to the petitioner, ‘Dr. Omojola’ had come in company
of one Babatunde Oluwatope Oni, his supposed driver, to his stand
to negotiate for the car and later agreed to pay N2,000,000 (Two
Million Naira) for it.

After the agreement, ‘Dr. Omojola’ issued a N2m Skye Bank Cheque
ostensibly in favour of the dealer and ordered his ‘driver’ to pay
it into his Zenith Bank account at Bodija, Ibadan.

Oni later came with a copy of the Zenith bank deposit teller,
depicting ‘payment’ of the agreed sum into the dealer’s
account.

It was, however, later discovered that the payment was not
approved as the payer used a cloned cheque for the transaction.

Unfortunately, the decline did not come until after the gang had
eloped with the vehicle. A similar scenario also played out in a
petition by one Mr. Amos Arole Oloja, also an Ibadan-based car
dealer.

Oloja alleged that the duo drove to his car stand in an Honda
CRV to price a Toyota Sienna car and agreed to pay N2,200,000 (Two
Million, Two Hundred Thousand Naira) for the purchase of the
vehicle.

This time, Adeojo claimed to be Dr. Odumodu also of UCH, Ibadan,
while Oni, his ‘driver’ gave his name as Kayode.

‘Dr. Odumodu’ issued a Standard Chartered Bank cheque for the
payment of the sum and directed his ‘driver’ to go with the dealer
to lodge the cheque into his account domiciled in the First Bank,
Iwo Road branch.

Unfortunately, the cheque could not be confirmed as the account
rather carried the name Akinjide Sefiu Odusanya.

On hearing the news, Adeojo pretended to be surprised. He left
with the SUV with the promises to go and bring another cheque to
offset the car cost. Oni was left behind.

Though, he (Oni) had pretended to be sick all the while, he took
advantage of the time the dealer went to return a borrowed battery
to his colleague to strike. Before the dealer’s return, Oni made
away with the negotiated Avensis car.

The two were also linked with another car theft matter involving
a Toyota Matrix car somewhere in Iwo, Osun State.

Oni is currently in the Agodi facility of the Nigeria
Correctional Services following a court order when he was recently
arraigned on one of the incidents.

Adeojo will have his day in court soon. The Commission is
holding them for conspiracy, issuance of dud cheque and
stealing.