Accounting graduate arrested for impersonating Lagos Land Use officer blames unemployment

A 37-year-old man arrested by the operatives

of Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State

Police Command for impersonating officials of

the Lagos State Land Use Charge has blamed

unemployment as the cause of his action.



Olaitan Shofolahan, an Accounting graduate of

Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Ogun

State, was arrested on Thursday in Lekki Phase

1, in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos.

He was arrested while attempting to defraud a

resident of the posh estate of several millions

Land Use Charge dues. The suspect, who was

working in his brother's audit firm in Sabo,

Yaba area of Lagos, before abandoning the job

in search of better offer.



He stated that his moves to join the Lagos

State Public Service were frustrated by lack of

vacancy.





According to the suspect:



"I was working with my brother in his

audit firm in Sabo, Yaba, earning

N45,000 monthly salary before I left

the firm in search of employment…. I

was at Lagos State Civil Service

Commission several times to seek

employment. It was during one of my

visits that I learnt that payment for Land

Use Charge in the state is through a

code. The code is engraved on every

metal sticker issued to every house."



"It is with this code that you get an

annual bill of the house and that you can

get your charges printed out for you

free with the bills. That was how I

started moving round choice location to

get their code and print their bills….



Any house that does not owe, I discard

but those with huge bills, I work on

them. But I noticed that some of them

requested for my id–card. I forged a

Lagos State Government identity card

using a sample that I saw somewhere in

Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja," he said.



He added;



"I have being in the business since

February, 2015. I have observed that

owners of buildings in Lekki have

capacity to settle their bills quickly, that

was why I have focused there.



Unfortunately for me, it was this

location that I was caught…. I entered

the building in Lekki Phase 1, unknown

to me that the officials of the Lagos

State Land Use Charge were there with

the house owner. I saw the owner

discussing with them but I didn't know

their identity. The owner of the building

after sitting me down, invited RRS

officials to arrest me."



Shofolahan explained further; "since I have

been impersonating, I have only realised

N30,000 which I collected from an home

owner in Alausa while pretending to be an

official of the State. I have not collected any

other money apart from that. Each and every

time I visited these buildings, they ask me to

come back later".



Found with the suspect after his arrest were

five land use bills with varied charges above

N1 million and a forged identity card of The

Lagos State Government.



Confirming the incident, the Police PPRO, ASP

Olarinde Famous Cole, said that there would

be no hiding place for criminals in Lagos State

adding that officers of the command are at

alert to nip crime in the bud.



The suspect has been transferred to the State

Criminal Investigation Department, Panti,

Yaba, for further investigations.