Four-Day Fraud: Newly Hired Lagos Driver Absconds With Employer’s Gelly Saloon Car.

A Lagos-based developer, Olakanmi Ogundele, has raised the alarm after his newly hired driver, Olufemi Jogbodo, allegedly fled with his Gelly Saloon vehicle (number plate AGL586GW) just four days into the job.

Ogundele revealed on Sunday that the suspect, who initially identified himself as Adeleye, was assigned to him by his company’s manager on November 18. Jogbodo accompanied Ogundele on a trip to Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, and returned on November 20. The theft occurred the following day when the suspect drove the developer to his office, only to abscond with the car while Ogundele was engaged in a meeting.

Ogundele provided a detailed account of the incident: “My driver was sick and I told my company to get me another driver because I was going to travel to Ijebu Ode. So, they got a driver on October 18, and we went to Ijebu Ode together and came back on October 20.” He explained that the new driver then took him to his Ikoyi office. The suspect escaped by telling the security guard that Ogundele had sent him on an errand while the owner was in a meeting. “The security could not come in to confirm with me because the meeting was still ongoing. That was how he went with the car and never came back,” Ogundele stated. The matter was immediately reported to the Ikoyi Police Division’s tactical team, which began tracking the suspect; however, Ogundele lamented that the search had since made no progress.

Ogundele revealed that the search involved detaining and later releasing two of the suspect’s relatives: “We have arrested his wife’s sister and one of his cousins, but we have to release them because they have stayed more than the permissible period in detention.” They also located the suspect’s aged mother near Agbado Ijaiye but refrained from arresting her due to her age (about 75).

The manager who sourced the driver was also arrested and interrogated, confessing to a serious oversight: “He said that because I was in a hurry to travel, he could not get the information he had provided before they gave it to me.” Ogundele noted that the manager “did not do his due diligence by confirming the identity and address of the driver. Everything he gave was fake.” The driver’s initial alias was Adeleye, but his real name is Olufemi Jogbodo. Ogundele concluded by disclosing that plans are now underway to place a bounty on the suspect to accelerate his arrest and the recovery of the Gelly Saloon.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Adebisi Abimbola, could not be reached for comment, as calls and a text message sent to her phone went unreturned as of the time of filing this report. This incident is reminiscent of a suspected car theft syndicate previously busted by the Lagos State Police Command in August, a group accused of using fake drivers to steal their employers’ vehicles.

The Commissioner of Police, Olohundare Jimoh, had confirmed that the gang leader, Chinedu Emmanuel, was arrested in Ogijo, Ogun State, on July 17. According to the Commissioner, Emmanuel specialized in recruiting “criminally-minded drivers” and recommending them to unsuspecting car owners for employment