Femi Akinola, an accountant with a lubricant producing firm in Ikoyi, Lagos State has been arrested by the police for allegedly stealing the company’s $50,000. Eterna Plc had sent 30-year-old Akinola to withdraw the sum from the United Bank for Africa in the Marina area on Thursday, November 17.
He was said to have led the operatives to the fence of a primary school in the Bariga area, where $30,000 concealed inside a concrete block was recovered. While parading the suspect on Friday at the Lagos State Command headquarters in Ikeja, the Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said Akinola stripped himself and threw his phones into a river to perfect the ploy.
He said, “The suspect worked with a multinational company in the state. He was sent to withdraw $50,000. After withdrawing the money, he faked his own kidnap and claimed that the kidnappers collected the money.
“The police have been able to recover $30,000. He confessed to have given out $15,000. We are making efforts to recover the remaining sum.”
However, Akinola said “I am also into music. I used to chat with one Kingsley in the UK, who wanted to help me with my music career. I chatted with him that day and I told him that I just withdrew $50,000. He told me he needed $15,000. He sent somebody to meet me around Marina to collect the money. It was after the person collected the money and my phones and left that I came to my senses.
“I was confused and didn’t know what to do. At that point, I decided to hide the remaining $35,000 at the back of a primary school in Bariga, and left for Epe to commit suicide. On getting there, I changed my mind and reported to the police that I was robbed.”
“I earn over N120,000 per month. I didn’t have intention of using the money to promote my music career. That was not the first time I would withdraw money for the company as an accounting officer. I had withdrawn more than that in the past. I have been working with the company for five years,” he added.
