Posted by By Oluwatoyosi Ogunseye on
Two smart alecs who bit the hand that fed them are now gnashing their teeth in police cell. Goodluck George and Chinedu Ogidi were brought to Lagos by an uncle from their village in Imo State to learn a trade. But instead of being grateful, they allegedly looted his shop on two occasions, making away with a substantial part of his capital.
Two smart alecs who bit the hand that fed them are now gnashing their teeth in police cell.
Goodluck George and Chinedu Ogidi were brought to Lagos by an uncle from their village in Imo State to learn a trade. But instead of being grateful, they allegedly looted his shop on two occasions, making away with a substantial part of his capital.
Daily Sun gathered that their uncle, Uchesin Okaroafor, a cosmetics dealer at the Trade Fair Complex, made an agreement with the boys in which they were to be apprentices in his shop for six years, after which he would pay them for their years of service and free them.
George, however, spent just one year before he left in year 2000. According to him, he had to leave because his uncle wanted him to take an oath.
He said: "Because one of our family members who was working with chairman (Uchesin) duped him, he asked all of us in his shop to swear that we would not steal. I could not swear, so I left the shop."
Ogidi, 22, on his part spent the mandatory number of years and gained his freedom in 2005. The duo ganged up to teach Uchesin a lesson because they felt that he did not treat them well. Together with one Ikenna, who also worked in the shop, they allegedly broke into the shop and carted away cartoons of assorted perfume.
According to Ogidi, it was George who sold the idea of stealing their master's goods in the night. " I would not say that chairman did not treat me well. After all, as I was leaving, he gave me N250, 000 to help me find my feet.
During the period of looking for a shop to establish myself, I became close to George. I was even sleeping in his house. The first time we stole in the shop was late last year. We went in the night and through a small opening, we took 15 cartoons of Pro Claire and oil. We kept the loot in George's shop. The second time was last month, when we went with a commercial bus and stole 157 cartoons of Bio Claire cream. After then, I travelled to the village. I was arrested there by policemen over the theft."
George, 20, who owns a red V Boot Mercedes Benz, marked DC 209 SMK and a thriving shop, said that when he left Uchesin's shop, another uncle of his, gave him N200, 000 which he used to open his shop. All the stolen goods from Uchesin's shop were traced to him. He had allegedly kept the cartoons of cream in one of his uncle's house at Ikotun under the pretence that he bought them.
George, who claimed to be a part-time 300 level student at Imo State University, said: "We stopped a commercial bus in the night and asked the driver to take us to the Trade Fair Complex. We removed the barrier in front of the shop and stole the goods. My uncle at Ikotun did not know that they were stolen. In fact, he was not at home when I was offloading the goods in his house."
When Uchesin arrived his shop the next day, he was surprised that his goods had vanished into thin air. He alerted policemen and gave them names of those he suspected.
Detectives at the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Panti, began investigations and traced the stolen goods to the duo.
Efforts by Daily Sun to speak with Uchesin proved abortive.