MICHAEL AKINOLA
A lady, an account officer with Davo Dani Microfinance Bank, Akwa Gift, will not forget in a hurry the day she went to recover a loan from a customer, Mrs. Florence Uwunwa, as she was assaulted and paraded in public with a wheelbarrow as a thief.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the incident happened at B Close, 31 Road, Gowon Estate, Egbeda area of Lagos, where Gift went to recover debt from Florence Uwunwa.
The suspect, Florence, has been arrested by the Police.
According to the Police report, the suspect borrowed an undisclosed amount from the Microfinance bank as loan with an agreement to be refunding the money in bits until the final payment.
However, she was said to have been paying the money but defaulted on one occasion, which prompted the account officer, Gift, to storm her place in order to recover the debt or seize her property for the unpaid amount.
Her unscheduled visit angered the suspect, Florence and she mobilized some of the residents against Gift. She was beaten mercilessly, paraded in a wheelbarrow as a thief along the street and was injured in the process before she was later rescued.
The matter was reported to the Police at Gowon Estate Division. Florence was then arrested and detained over the conduct.
During interrogation, Florence told the Police that she actually borrowed money from the Microfinance bank and had been paying as agreed but defaulted on one occasion and Gift came to her place to embarrass her before her neighbours that she borrowed money from them.
However, the Police found her culpable and subsequently charged her before the Ogba Magistrates Court for conspiracy and assault, which attracts several years of imprisonment if she is tried and found guilty before the Court.
She pleaded not guilty when she was arraigned.
The prosecutor, Supol Akeem Raji, then asked the Court to give a date for hearing since she pleaded not guilty to enable the Police to prove that she actually committed the alleged offence.
The Presiding Magistrate, Mrs. B.O.Osunsanmi, granted her bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum and ordered her remand in correctional center at Kirikiri town, Lagos, pending when she will perfect her bail conditions while the matter was adjourned for mention.