Leadnaija
In October, Oyeniyi Olagoke, an e-hailing taxi driver resident in Lagos, met Sijuade Damilare of Xtreme Autos. Damilare was introduced to him as a car dealer.
Olajide spoke to FIJ on Tuesday. He said that when they met, Damilare said he was involved in the importation of cars and could help secure a vehicle he could use for his business through hire purchase.
He said Damilare told him it would cost N300,000, and he immediately paid N100,000 to begin the process.
“This sounded good to me, as the car I was using didn’t belong to me. He told me the process would take some eight to nine months and subsequently, I completed the payment,” Olagoke said.
Olagoke said that while he was waiting for the timeline Damilare gave him to elapse, he had issues with the owner of the car he was using and had to return it.
The receipt of the N100,000 paid to Damilare.
“I kept running my business, but due to issues with the car owner, I had to return it in December,” he narrated.
“But then, most times, he was the one giving me updates about the progress of the car after I finished making payments to him.
“In early December, he said the car would arrive in Nigeria between 26 and 27 and be cleared within four days.”
The Lagos resident said that since the deadline elapsed, it had been one excuse or the other from Damilare about the vehicle’s progress.
On January 23, he said Damilare called him and said he was at the Customs office in Apapa, Lagos, but could not reach him due to poor network.
Olagoke explained further that Damilare called him the following week asking him to meet up at Iyana Oworo, another area in Lagos.
He said that was the last night Damilare picked up his calls as he stopped hearing from him afterwards.
“The last time I spoke with him was on Monday. Before that, for two weeks, he kept giving me excuses,” Olagoke told FIJ.
“On January 23, he said there were network issues at the Apapa customs office, but I told him that was normal in Nigeria. I waited on Friday and Saturday, but he didn’t show up.
“On Sunday, he called and told me to come to the port on Monday to pick up the car. He asked me to meet him at Oworo that morning. Since then, his numbers haven’t been going through, though his WhatsApp messages delivered without a response.
“When I tried calling, it didn’t ring. I called again, but it didn’t go through. He had told me the car was in a queue to be cleared, and since I didn’t know much about the process, I believed him.”
Olagoke told FIJ on Friday that Damilare read all his messages on WhatsApp but refused to respond.
FIJ sent multiple WhatsApp messages to Sijuade Damilare on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. While the messages were delivered, he did not respond at press time. Calls to his phone numbers also did not connect.Tap Here for the Full Story
