A LAGOS WORKER IS IN TROUBLE AFTER USING HIS EMPLOYER’S MONEY TO BET ON SPORTS.

The Yaba Magistrate’s Court has received a complaint alleging that a 26-year-old man named Samuel Meyiwa stole money from his job to be used for gaming.

On Thursday, the Lagos State Police Command filed a single theft allegation against the defendant, who was brought before Magistrate A.O. Salawu.

Court documents state that Meyiwa was employed in March to operate a vehicle carrying sachet water for the Freedom Pure Water Company in Bariga.

But it has come to light that, without his employer’s knowledge, he has been using a percentage of the money he makes from his daily sales to gamble on sports at an unnamed gambling establishment.

According to more details, Meyiwa sold a water sachet for N88,000 in October but neglected to send the money. Instead, the complaint claims that he told his manager days later that he was owed money by clients, a trend that eventually started to happen again.

Meyiwa drove out in November with bags of N300,000 worth of sachet water, as was his custom. Even though he delivered every item, he took the money and gambled; when he lost, he ran away.

All attempts to get in touch with him were unsuccessful until he was discovered working for another company, at which point the police arrested him.

Oriabure told the court that Meyiwa had committed the crime at Okusanya Street, which is off Adebayo Road in Bariga, between March and November of 2023. Oriabure went on to say that this offense was against Section 287(7) of the Lagos State Criminal Law, which was passed in 2015.

The charge read, “That you Samuel Meyiwa, sometime March to November 2023 at Bariga in the Yaba Magisterial District did steal the sum of three hundred thousand naira cash from Freedom Pure Water Company situated at No 10 NG Okusanya street off Adebayo Road, Bariga, where you were employed as a driver and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 287 (7) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2015.”

The defendant entered a plea and asserted his innocence on the one accusation made against him.

In response, the magistrate granted him release on bond in exchange for N100,000 and the provision of the same amount by two trustworthy sureties.

She also moved the trial to January 25, 2024, and the case was postponed accordingly.