A professor of journalism and mass communication, Olatunji Dare, has written an open letter to the public after petitioning the Nigeria Police over what he describes as a verbal threat to life from an electrical engineer.
In the letter, published in some number national dailies, Dare said he engaged the services of the electrical engineer, Durojaiye Gabriel Olukato, to help purchase a diesel generator only to be supplied a dysfunctional generating set.
He said, “I engaged Duro Olukato, a self-employed electrical engineer of Kabba origin based in Abuja to advise me on the purchase of a diesel engine for my residence in Kabba.
“I did so based on his excellent professional work in wiring the house in the final stage of its construction some ten years ago,” he said.
From Dare’s letter, attempts to recover his money totaling N3.2m and return the dysfunctional set eventually led to subtle threats from Olukato.
The emeritus professor of journalism said, “Olukato had never told me that there was any third party to the transaction. The cheque I wrote was in his name. He was the one who cashed it. And now, he is warning me about what a third party might do if I reported the matter to the police.”
Dare’s attorney, Dr Mike Obamero, wrote a petition to the Nigeria Police Area Command and Office, in Kabba Kogi State on August 23, 2021.
Obamero laments that the area commander in Kabba was handling the case well till he retired in September.
He added that the commander put calls to Olukato several times but he had been evasive, claiming he was in Maiduguri, Lagos or Abuja.
Olukato’s number was called several times yesterday, but a woman answered, claiming it was a wrong number.
The state police spokesman, Mr William Aya, said the matter had not yet been escalated to the state police command.