Posted by By CHRISTOPHER OJI on
A retired army officer, Colonel Bassey Effiong, has been held by the police over the theft of a car that belonged to a female Italian returnee. Effiong who posed as a former Governor of Nasarawa State claimed that he only seized the car from his girlfriend who was owing him the sum of 500 dollars.
A retired army officer, Colonel Bassey Effiong, has been held by the police over the theft of a car that belonged to a female Italian returnee. Effiong who posed as a former Governor of Nasarawa State claimed that he only seized the car from his girlfriend who was owing him the sum of 500 dollars.
A senior police officer at the Adeniji Adele police station where the suspect was detained, said that the colonel was arrested by policemen who stopped and searched his car, when they saw a female nightgown and shoes inside.
The police officer said that the items raised some suspicion, adding 'our boys conducted thorough search and discovered some documents bearing Bridget Mary Uchendu who has a shop at the Alade Market on Allen Avenue, but the colonel maintained that the gown and shoe belonged to his wife."
He said that they detained the man and traced Uchendu to her Alade shop where she confirmed that the suspect stole her car, adding that efforts to speak with him on phone proved abortive.
On how the car was snatched, Uchendu said, 'I sell food at the Alade market. I came back from Europe, my husband is still there. I have two kids for him. My business was booming, but unfortunately, a woman who was selling biscuits upstairs started selling the same food that I am selling and used juju to attract all my customers to her restaurant. One day, I was crying when the colonel asked me why and I told him that I was finished, that the woman upstairs has collected my customers.
'This colonel promised to assist me. So, he used to come to my shop. Everytime, he would buy biscuit for my kids. So, one day, he brought a form and asked me to sign. He said that he was taking me to a bank manager who was going to give me a N4.6 million loan to set up another business and I was very happy. So, on the fateful day, I brought out my car, and we started driving towards Tafa Balewa Square. Just along the line, he chanted some incantations and my new vehicle developed an unusual fault and stopped. He now told me to go and snap passport, which he would give to the bank while he went for a mechanic."
But Uchendu came back and find the man and her car had disappeared. She called his GSM line which she claimed was switched off. 'I did not know what to tell my husband or his people, till one day when the police invited me and told me how they recovered my car," she said.
The colonel maintained that Mrs. Uchendu was his girlfriend. He said 'yes, she is my girlfriend. If you ask the police, they will tell you that they have visited the hotels we went to have fun the day I seized the car. I have been giving her money but I told her that I borrowed this particular 500 dollars because she wanted to bring in a car with the money and that is pure business. I devised means of collecting my money."
When he was asked whether he did not know that the woman is married, he said, 'My man, we are not in the church, so don't preach to me. When a woman decides to insult her husband, it is not your duty to correct her. Don't preach anything to me. I am not a pastor.
At this time, a mild drama ensued when the woman started abusing the colonel. ‘Fake colonel, you are a 419, 419 my foot. You are not ashamed of yourself. You wanted to dupe me of my car. God has punished you."
The colonel replied, 'Ashawo, prostitute, you claimed you are married but you fuck like mad. You wanted to bribe me with sex and I had told you that I am a principled man. I know I took the laws into my hands by not reporting you to the police, but you are a fool and you think you're wise."