Police arraigns painter who absconded with his customer's N1m mistakenly transferred to his account in Lagos

The police in Lagos today arraigned a 22 year old car painter, Taiye Obakoya, before Mrs J. O. Adepoju of the Igbosere Magistrates’ Court, for absconding with one of his customers, Dada Emmanuel's N1 million mistakenly transferred to his account on October 20th. Obakoya who resides at No. 26 Awolowo Street, Oworosoki, Lagos, absconded the money and was arrested after spending N150,000 from the money.


Prosecuting Sergeant Nicholas Akpene told the court that Dada Emmanuel had employed the services of Obakoya and asked for an account number to pay him his money after he completed his painting job. Dada while trying to credit the account, mistakenly did a mobile phone money transfer of N1m from his bank account to the Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) account of Obakoya.

“After discovering the error, he phoned Obakoya and pleaded with him not to tamper with the money, but the defendant assured him that no such amount was credited to his account. The next morning, the defendant refused to pick his calls and when the complainant checked him at home and at his workshop under the bridge at Obalende, Obakoya wasn’t there. The complainant then reported the matter to GTB, which placed a restriction on Obakoya’s account after confirming that the N1m was successfully transferred to it and that he had already withdrawn N150,000 from it.”