How Police AIG Bought Auctioned Stolen SUV for N250,000

A stolen Toyota Sport Utility Vehicle found in the possession of a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) who claimed he purchased the vehicle through a public auction has sparked a row.

The car’s original owner faulted the public auction of his vehicle to the ex-police chief, saying the information provided for its auction did not add up, The Nation’s KUNLE AKINRINADE reports.

It was around midnight a decade ago when some dare-devil robbers broke into the home of Eye Ayo Samuel in Erusu Akoko, Akoko North West Local Government Area of Ondo State. The hoodlums broke into his apartment through the kitchen window and shattered his sleep.

“The incident occurred on January 24, 2014. I was sleeping in my house when the two armed men broke into my home through the window of the kitchen and threatened to shoot me and my family.

“The intruders made away with five phones including Tecno, Samsung, Blackberry and Nokia brands.

“Not satisfied with their loot, they also took away my N3 million white 2006 model Toyota Highlander Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) marked EKY 850 AJ with chassis number: JTE DW 21A060004010,” he said.

Samuel, who runs a printing firm, said in the morning of January 25, he rushed to the nearby police division at Ikare Akoko to report the matter while he also contacted the office of the Federal Road Safety Corps to flag the stolen car.

As it has turned out, the car has now a subject of controversy between Samuel and one retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Olatunji Akingbola.

Samuel recalled: “In the morning of January 25, 2014, I went straight to the Ikare Police Station and reported the incident. But nothing came out of it until recently when I discovered that the car was bought by one Olatunji Akingbola, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG).

“If you look at the auction paper, you will see that there was no registered vehicle number or number plate and no car chassis number displayed or written on the Toyota Highlander auctioned to him.

“On the contrary, my car was a hybrid Toyota Highlander and it has a registered number and number plate as well as a chassis number.”

Samuel said last year, he was alerted by the FRSC office in Lagos that the vehicle was brought in for registration.
He said: “I was shocked when FRSC called me on my mobile phone repeatedly that my car was discovered among the vehicles whose documents were submitted for number plates, and I was furious.

The approval for the public auction of the vehicle was issued on August 25, 2015, by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Boniface Onyeabo, in a memo to the Assistant Director of Police Pay Office, Obalende Lagos. The correspondence mentioned one Godwin Okafor as the registered police auctioneer approved to handle the public sale of the vehicles including the Toyota Highlander SUV.

Subsequently, in the exhibit vehicles due for public auction released by the police, 17 vehicles, including a Toyota Highlander Sport Utility Vehicle, were listed as approved for auction. However, the controversial car was listed as number 6 without any registration number.

The Sun newspaper of Tuesday, July 21, 2015 had noted that no fewer than 19 vehicles were recovered by the defunct Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FEDSARS) Adeniji Adele, Lagos.

Eventually, the car, which Samuel claimed was worth more than N3 million at the time it was snatched at gunpoint, was sold for a paltry N20,000 to one Wosola Akinkuowo at the public auction held on September 7, 2015, according to the receipt issued in respect of the transaction sighted by our reporter.