A 34-year-old businessman, Ifeanyi Bakwenye, was on Tuesday in Lagos brought before an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court charged with stealing a car valued at N2.6million.
Bakwenye, a resident of Ikeja, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The prosecutor, Sgt. Olasunkami Adejumola, told the court that the defendant committed the offence in February 2020, at Ikosi, Lagos.
He said that the defendant stole an unregistered Toyota Sienna space bus belonging to Lilian Idowu.
“The defendant fraudulently obtained the car from the complainant with pretext of helping her to sell it.
“After the defendant sold the car, he was nowhere to be found.
“Efforts made by the complainant to collect the money proved unsuccessful as the defendant refused to pick calls.
“The defendant was later arrested after 10 months of disappearance.”
The offence, Adejumola noted, violates section 287 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the section carries three years imprisonment for stealing.
The Magistrate, O. A Odubayo, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N400,000 with two sureties in like sum.
Odubayo said that the sureties should be gainfully employed and should show evidence of two years tax payment to the Lagos State Government.
She adjourned the case till January 20, for mention.
