Published 16th Nov, 2022

By Daniel Ojukwu

Daniel Ajakaye, a staff member of Spar Market Nigeria, found himself in the custody of the Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, three days after he was granted bail in Ilupeju Police Division.

Ajakaye, who worked as part of the supermarket’s internal security team in charge of imputing data of vendors and invoices, was one of six staff members arrested on Saturday by the Ilupeju police on allegations of conspiracy to steal and theft of N140 million goods from Spar’s Opebi branch in Lagos.

On Sunday morning, his lawyer and pastor visited the station to bail him. His bail was perfected on the condition that he presented himself at the station daily.

When Ajakaye appeared at the station on Tuesday in the company of his wife, he was handcuffed and taken to Panti because, according to Abiodun Adekunle, the investigating police officer (IPO) in Ilupeju, “there was a letter from Panti saying he should be transferred”.

Prior to his transfer to Panti, Ajakaye narrated to FIJ how he was first accused of having a role in the disappearance of N111 million goods in June 2022 but did not hear of the matter again after “Avneesh Vishani, the inexperienced acting branch manager, was called to the head office then for interrogation”.

He said in November 2022, “N29 million’s worth of goods were said to be missing again. They sent a recount sheet to the store, and I was surprised to see that the stock take was full of errors and omissions. Some items that were said to be zero on the inventory based on the count were physically seen in the store, and as of Tuesday, November 8, 2022, the items that were seen physically were worth up to N10 million, which proves that there is an error in the inventory.”

Ajakaye said members of staff at the head office visited the branch that Tuesday to carry him, the officer receiving and scanning goods, the backstore supervisor, wine and spirits supervisor, the person in charge of CCTV, branch accountant, cashier supervisor and Vishani to the head office for investigation.

He said, “They quizzed us over the N111 million’s worth of goods missing in June and the recent occurrence in November, seized our phones and let us go at about 11 pm, asking that we return the next day. The following day, the accountant and the cashier were released because they dealt with cash, and the dispute was with goods.

“Meanwhile, there are uniformed security personnel, mobile police officers, aboki security and internal security staff there.”

He said after five days of interrogation, they were all taken to the Ilupeju police division, “where we wrote our statements and thereafter were put in cells according to the company’s instruction”.

Toluwani Adebiyi, his lawyer, and his pastor, visited the station on Sunday morning to bail him. Ajakaye said, “I was escorted by two armed policemen to search my apartment. Nothing incriminating was found, but I was told to report daily at the station. My colleagues remained in custody without being charged to court.”

While FIJ was speaking with Ajakaye on Tuesday, he was at the Ilupeju police station for what was supposed to be a routine visit. Officers began cuffing and dragging him to Panti.

Temitope, his wife, thereafter told our reporter she suspected that her husband was the only one being transferred as he was the only one who got a lawyer and was able to get bail.

When FIJ called Adekunle, he told FIJ he had no control over the matter as he got his instructions from the SCID. FIJ also called the Lagos State Police Complaints Unit, and they told our reporter that “State CID has the authority to call anybody regarding that case to come and state their involvement. Bailing him in the division does not mean he is free for life. The matter has moved from a division level to a state level”.

When FIJ called SPAR via the company’s known phone number, there was no response. A text message sent to the company was not replied to as of press time.

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