Conmen, policemen form lucrative fraud syndicate (2)

 Juliana Francis

Danjuma

Adam Yusuf Danjuma, who introduced himself as a Bureau De Change dealer, denied all the allegations levelled against him by Ayoola and his friends.

He also denied ever knowing Inspector Aro and Ndubuisi before the arrest of Ayoola. He insisted he has never claimed to be a SARS operative and didn’t own a gun. Danjuma said that the root cause of the problem between him and Ayoola was money. 

He said Ayoola’s sister, identified as Bukky, took a loan from him for the bail of Ayoola and also to settle Ndubuisi, the complainant.

He explained that on August 28, 2020, policemen from Auchi Police Station came to arrest Ayoola, alleging he had a stolen phone in his possession. Danjuma said he didn’t know Ayoola had been arrested until his mum, who everyone fondly called ‘Mama,’ came to tell him about it. He said: “We called the phone number the policemen left, but nobody picked. We went to Ikotun Police Station and Area M Police Command, but they were not there.

It was at Area M that a policeman asked if the policemen left a phone number. He called and someone picked. The policeman advised that we should head to Auchi Police Station immediately, that the case was very serious.” On August 29, Danjuma and Mama left for Edo State. When they got there, Danjuma was asked about his relationship with Ayoola and he introduced himself as, “Ayoola’s brother.” “Aro opened his drawer and brought out Ayoola’s phone and its carton. He dialled a number and a serial number appeared. He asked me to check the serial number on the phone and the carton; they were the same. I didn’t know what that meant. Aro said we should ask Ayoola how he got the phone.

Ayoola said he bought it from a church member at Ikotun. Aro asked Ayoola for the receipt of his phone and its carton, but Ayoola couldn’t provide either,” Danjuma said. Aro explained to Danjuma and Mama that the phone was stolen from Ndubuisi at gunpoint. Danjuma demanded to see the complainant and Ndubuisi was invited. When Ndubuisi arrived, he claimed he was robbed and his phone, money and gold stolen. He said that was why he asked Aro to track his phone.

“When we asked for a solution to the issue, they said Ndubuisi said Ayoola must pay N1.8 million, which was the worth of items stolen from him. Mama, Ayoola and I pleaded with him, he said his money should be paid or the matter be taken to court. Mama asked me to call one of her daughters, Bukky, residing overseas.

Bukky sent , urging us to implore Ndubuisi to make do with that. But Ndubuisi refused. Mama said she had N100,000 with her and I went to collect N200,000 from my account. We raised N900,000 altogether, but Ndubuisi still refused to collect it. I have never seen such a wicked man before,” Danjuma said. Bukky called again to find out the situation. “Bukky now said that I should loan them N500,000. She promised to pay back the loan by November ending.

I gave them the loan and the money became N1.5 million. The complainant took the money. Aro said that bail was N500,000 and we had to start begging again. We asked him to collect N50,000, but he refused, but later settled for N100,000. He brought out a bail bond and asked me to fill it. Ayoola was then released to me,” Danjuma recalled. He said that when it was November, he tried to chat with Bukky, to remind her of the loan, but was shocked to discover she had blocked him. He reported to Ayoola, who promised to speak with Bukky.

A few days later, Bukky transferred N270,000 to Danjuma. Ayoola then told Danjuma that Bukky had promised to balance by January ending. On January 10, 2021, after he returned from work, Ayoola came to call him and said that Mama wanted to see him. “When I went out to ask Ayoola where Mama was, he had already gathered boys.

They started beating me; when I asked what my offence was, they said I was a police informant, that I stole two phones in their house. I told them that nothing like that happened. Before I knew what was happening, my former girlfriend, Funmi, who Ayoola introduced and convinced me to date, lied that she saw the two phones with me.

They then called one Mr. Rotimi, a member of the community. He came and forced me to write that I stole two phones and money, and that I would pay. When I refused, the boys started beating me again; I had to do as he asked,” Danjuma said. He later went to Ikotun Police Station to report the attack on him. He was given a police report, to go to Igando General Hospital for treatment.

He returned to the station and made his statement. Police went to make an arrest, but arrested only one person, Emma. When Ayoola was called and invited by the police, he told them he was in Abeokuta. Danjuma said: “It was Rotimi who later came to the station. I saw him discuss with the DPO, he then went to his car, collected a white envelope and gave it to the DPO. The DPO called me and collected my phone; he asked for the pattern to unlock it and then checked my chat with Aro. He then told Rotimi that there was nothing like that. I didn’t know what that meant.

The DPO returned my phone to me. The DPO ordered that Emma should be released and that he was not interested in the case. I left, but before I could get home, Ayoola had organised boys again to attack me. Again, they called Rotimi; he came and collected my phone. They asked me to leave the community and never return to my apartment.

 

I went back to Ikotun Police Station; I was given an IPO, Inspector Bose, who gave me a paper to Igando General Hospital. This time, the hospital said my leg had been affected in the attack. I had to pay N51,000 before they started treatment.” Asked why he took Zainab to Auchi and threatened to shoot her, Danjuma said it was a lie.

He described Zainab as his best friend, who even used to sleep in his apartment. He said: “I introduced one Hassan to my boss in our office and he ran away with my boss’ N400,000. My boss blamed me. When Ayoola had an issue, I saw the way Aro was carrying out tracking operations. I told him about Hassan; he said Hassan’s account would have to be frozen, and that was how Hassan was arrested.

He paid my boss’ money. Aro called me to come and collect the money, I told him to transfer it, but he said no. He said I needed to come down to Auchi, because there were some documents I needed to sign. When I was going to Auchi, I asked my friend, Zainab, to go with me; that was all.” Asked why Funmi would lie against him concerning the two stolen phones, he said it was due to anger. He said that he jilted her and didn’t believe her when she told him she was pregnant for him.

He said: “She came one day to spend the night; her phone rang several times, but she refused to pick. While she was sleeping, a message came into her phone and I checked. It was from her husband, asking her to return his daughter. She had told him that she was going to her sister’s place.

The guy went there, but didn’t see her. The eight-year-old girl, who she brought to my house with her, was her daughter, not her niece as she claimed. I confronted her, but she said they had parted ways. I gave her N6,000 and asked her to leave. That was how I ended the relationship.” Danjuma said that when Funmi started lying against him, an elderly community friend called both of them together.

The man asked Funmi why she was lying against Danjuma, she replied that she had been three months pregnant for Danjuma, but he refused to pick her calls. She went for an abortion, which cost her N30,000. She allegedly told Danjuma to refund her N30,000 if he wanted her to recant her story. The story again takes a new twist as Inspector Aro tells his own side.

Contrary to Danjuma’s assertion that Ayoola was released to him, Aro said it was not true. He said: “We refused to release Ayoola to Danjuma because he doesn’t reside in Edo State.” Aro explained that Ndubuisi reported that he was robbed of his phone, money and Cuban gold. Ndubuisi brought the carton of the phone and they used the serial number to track the phone to Lagos State.

He further claimed to have stopped over at the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters’ Ikeja, to book that they came to Lagos for an arrest and from there they also booked at Area M Police and then at Ikotun Police Station. He said that it was after they arrested Ayoola and took him to Auchi that Ndubuisi came and recognised him as one of those who robbed him.

He said: “Before this case, I have known Danjuma and no, he is not a policeman.” While denying that the police collected money from Ayoola, he admitted that during his team’s second coming to Lagos, Ayoola lodged them in a hotel for N110,000, not N120,000 as Ayoola claimed. Aro said the only mistake he made was that he ought to have charged the case to court, instead of the mediation and final money settlement given to Ndubuisi. He denied knowing Ndubuisi before the case.