Stolen N20m Wristwatch Sold For N1.2m

A hair stylist, Clark Lydia Vivian, 22, and her step-father, Engr. Ayodele, Djamasi, 51, are in police net for allegedly stealing a gold wrist watch worth N20 million and selling it for N1.2 million at Tejuosho market, Yaba, Lagos, southwest Nigeria.


The police at Ilasan Division, Lekki, Eti-Osa, Lagos, arrested them along with the alleged receiver of the stolen wrist watch, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdulahi, 42.

After investigation by Corporal Filatel Matthias and his team, the suspects were arraigned before a Tinubu Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, on a three-count charge of stealing.

The police prosecutor, Sergeant Ighodaro Daniel, told the court that the accused persons were arrested following a complaint by Tope Agbede, a resident of Lekki Phase I, Eti-Osa, that the first accused, Lydia Vivian, stole his gold wrist watch valued at N20 million and escaped.

He said he gave the wrist watch to the accused to keep for him before she disappeared with it.

During interrogation, the first accused allegedly confessed that the complainant actually gave her a wrist watch not to keep for him, but to sell and use the proceeds to rent an accommodation for herself and that she did not steal the watch.

In her statement to the police, Vivian allegedly said: “The complainant is my boyfriend. He gave me a gold wristwatch to sell when he could not raise the N30,000 he promised to give me. Before I sold the wristwatch, I informed my mother who directed my step-father to assist me to sell the watch.

“He took me to Tejuosho Market, Yaba, Lagos, where Alhaji Ibrahim Abdulahi took us to Alhaji Dandare who bought the wrist watch for N1.2 million. I used part of the money to rent an accommodation for myself and a shop for my mother, and I also gave my step-father the sum of N100,000 for assisting me to sell the watch.”

The offences, the prosecutor said the accused committed, contravened sections 409, 285 and 326 of the criminal laws of Lagos state, 2011.

The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges, and Chief Magistrate Mrs. O. M. Ajayi admitted them on bail in the sum of N250, 000 with two sureties each in like sum.

She adjourned the matter till 21 August, 2013 for mention.

The defendants were, however, remanded at Kirikiri and Ikoyi prisons pending when they will fulfill the bail conditions.