Published 17th Oct, 2022

By Emmanuel Uti

Michael Olatunbosun, an Oyo State-based broadcaster, has narrated how Oludolapo Okunniga, a lawyer, is using her knowledge of the law to shield Abiodun Ademujimi, a car dealer who had defrauded him of N600,000 from being arrested.

Olatunbosun told FIJ that he made a part payment of N600,000 to Ademujimi in October 2021 for a 2005 Toyota Corolla model but had not received the car or a refund of his money till date.

The journalist said he agreed to make additional payments of N100,000 for ten months to Ademujimi after making an initial transfer of N600,000 to him in 2021.

However, instead of releasing the car to him after he had made the initial payment as agreed, Ademujimi started ‘acting funny’.

“Then he stalled, giving many incoherent explanations and excuses for his failure to deliver the car. I got tired of his antics and demanded that my money be returned to me,” Olatunbosun said.

Olatunbosun said after he requested for his money to be returned to him, he received a demand letter dated October 28 from one Oludolapo Okunniga, who identified herself as Ademujimi’s lawyer.

He said he told Okunniga that her story was one-sided because she had not heard from him, and in response, the lawyer said she would be the one to “arbitrate on whether she had been indeed biased or not”.

“Ademujimi later claimed he took ill and went for surgery before he finally agreed that he would return my money to me. He has yet to refund my money a year later, but the lawyer keeps saying she would talk to him,” said Olatunbosun.

“On May 24, 2022, the lawyer told me that Ademujimi had resolved to refund my money at the end of that month upon her advice. She even asked me to send my account details to her with the promise that she would forward them to him.”

A copy of Olatunbosun's petition to the NBA — A copy of Olatunbosun’s petition to the NBA

After breaking his commitment, Ademujimi again vowed to pay by the end of June but failed to do so.

Olatunbosun said he later got exposed to a revelation on how the lawyer and the car dealer met when he visited the former’s law firm in Ibadan.

“A lawyer at her previous law firm called her in my presence and asked her how she met her client after I had narrated my plight. In response, she told him ‘he just walked into her office,'” he said.

Olatunbosun said that after Ademujimi failed to pay, he wrote a petition to the Nigerian Bar Authority (NBA) in August and it was acknowledged.

In the letter, Olatunbosun appealed to the NBA to intervene in the issue by instructing Okunniga to produce Ademujimi, her client, and ask him to refund his money.

“Up till now, the NBA has done nothing. I went to the NBA secretariat on October 12 to get an update, but the staffer I met there said the petition committee had just been inaugurated. This means I would have to wait till December,” he said.

“I told him it was an unbearably long time to wait. I think they are trying to play tricks on me. It’s a year already and my money is hanging. The lawyer is always playing the innocent victim case.”

FIJ made several phone calls to both Oludolapo Okunniga and Abiodun Ademujimi but they were not answered. Text messages sent to the two had also not been responded to at press time.

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