Help me, my life is in danger, businessman begs police

A Lagos-based businessman, Aderotimi Lateef Balogun, is begging the police to rescue him from some persons he said have been threatening to snuff out his life.

Balogun, in a petition to the Lagos State police command, said he has been receiving lifethreatening messages from anonymous callers in the last two months.

He said his efforts to know the identities of the callers had met a brick wall as the network providers had refused to divulge them.

The Lagos State police boss, Imohimi Edgal, who confirmed receipt of the petition, said that the command was investigating it with a view to getting to the root of the matter.

Edgal said that the businessman had written to the command to complain of receiving several mysterious telephone calls from anonymous persons who were threatening to kill him.

He said that Balogun believed the threat to his life might not be unconnected with a move by some people to claim his land located on 26/27 Modupe Davis Street, Lagos Island.

Edgal said, “In the petition, Balogun claimed that he bought the land from a lawyer and estate agent, whose identity he gave as Babatunde Olabode Johnson, principal partner, Johnson and Johnson Solicitors, six years ago.

“I have directed the officerin-charge of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) to investigate the petition since it is a crime to threaten anybody, either through writing or telephone calls.”

Balogun told the police that some unknown people had actually been threatening him since the land case started in 2012. He said when he was buying the land from Johnson for 92,000 British pounds, he didn’t realise it was under litigation.

No sooner had he purchased the property, he added, than one Modupe Davis appeared to claim original ownership of it.

Edgal disclosed that police investigation showed that a case over the land had been on before Balogun purchased it, and that Johnson had already owned possession of the land and was awaiting the mandatory three months for appeal.

According to him, Johnson sold the land to Balogun since there was no appeal during the specific window period, only for Davis to come up with an ownership claim to the land.

“Balogun informed that in the subsequent court cases, up to the Supreme Court where the case was struck out by a five-man panel headed by the Chief Justice of the Federation, Walter Onnoghen, his opponent lost all appeals,” the police boss added.