A 37-year old man, Isaac Onoja, has been arrested and charged in Lagos State for allegedly stealing a phone worth N. 8m belonging to a customer, Sodiq Raji, inside a popular hotel.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the incident happened on 20th January, 2026, at Providence Hotel, Ikeja GRA, Ikeja Lagos.
According to the Police, the suspect went to the place where the complainant kept his phone, stole it and escaped. When the complainant discovered that his phone was missing from where he kept it, he reported to the management.
The management moved into action and reported the matter to the Police at Ikeja Division. The Police operatives arrested the suspect and detained him at the station for interrogation over the missing phone.
After rounds of interrogation, the Police found him culpable and charged him before the Ogba Magistrate Court for the alleged offence which attracts several years of imprisonment.
The charge read:
“That you, Isaac Onoja ‘m’ on 20th day of January, 2026 at about 1200hrs, at Providence Hotel, Ikeja GRA, Ikeja Lagos, in the Ikeja Magisterial district, did steal one Samsung Z Flips Fold phone value N800,000.00 (eight hundred thousand Naira only) property of one Sodiq Raji, a customer of Providence Hotel, Ikeja and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 280 and punishable under Section 287 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2015.”
However, he pleaded not guilty.
The prosecutor, Supol Josephine Ihkayere, asked the Court to give a date for hearing since he pleaded not guilty to enable the Police to prove that he actually committed the alleged offence.
The Presiding Magistrate, Mr. L.A. Owolabi, granted him bail with two sureties, who must show evidence of means of livelihood and tax payment while addresses will be verified by the Court.
The matter was adjourned for mention while the defendant was remanded in custody at the correctional center at Kirikiri town, Lagos, pending when he will perfect his bail conditions.