Drama as Taxify driver, magistrate trade accusations over alleged torture

A Taxify driver, Samuel Keshiro, has accused a Lagos State magistrate, Oluwatosin Fagbohun, of ordering his torture and subjecting him to seven-hour detention in a holding cell.

But the magistrate said the driver attempted to kidnap her by driving off with her while still in his car, adding that she had to call the court security men, who prevented the driver from driving off with her.

It was gathered that the magistrate ordered a Taxify ride on July 17, 2019, but trouble started when Keshiro cancelled the ride and opted for an offline trip.

The magistrate, who consented to the driver going offline, admitted later that she made a mistake accepting the request, adding that Keshiro made the trip unbearable for her.

However, Keshiro told PUNCH Metro that it was the magistrate, who misled him with the direction to her destination.

He said, “When the trip started, I asked her where exactly she was going in Ogba and she said Mobil filling station, and I took the First Gate route since that was the fastest route to where she said she was going.

“I followed the First Gate road down to where the filling station is and she said that was not where she was going and I told her to ask people around if that was not where they called Mobil, Ogba.

“After a while, I asked her where exactly she was going to and she said I should not worry that she would direct me; so, I continued driving till we reached another Mobil filling station on Oba Akran Avenue and I asked her where she was alighting and she said I should move on, which I did because I wanted to please her as she was my first customer for the day.

“I drove till we got to the Magistrates’ Court in Ogba and parked and requested that she should alight as she had got to her destination; she just started shouting at me that I should drive into the court premises, but I refused because the rule of my job does not allow drivers to drive passengers into compounds.

“Before I knew what was happening, she ordered the court’s security men to arrest me and lock me up.

“I was in the cell from around 8.30am till after 4pm with the prisoners brought from the Kirikiri Prison, who assaulted me and one even tried to have sex with me. A police constable came to release me past 4pm and said she was asked to bring me.

“When I got to her office, she asked me to go.”

Keshiro, who stated that he did not know what he did to warrant the torture he was subjected to, said he could only have imagined what the prisoners would have done to him if he had stayed longer with them.

However, Fagbohun told our correspondent that she ordered Keshiro to be locked up because he attempted to take her to an unknown location.

She said, “I requested a ride to the Samuel Ilori Court in Ogba, but I did not have cash on me, so I made a card request and when I got in the car, the first thing he did was to ask if I was paying with cash because he wanted to buy fuel and I told him that I did not have cash.

“I asked him if I should alight from the car, but he said he knew how he was going to do it, that he would cancel the request and I told him that he should allow me to cancel it myself, but he said he was going to cancel it on his app, but he needed to move forward so that he would not be arrested by LASTMA officials and I obliged him, but the next thing I saw was that I was debited N500.

“He asked where I was going to and how much I usually pay for the ride; I told him my destination and that I normally pay between N600 and N700, because it was a no traffic route and he pleaded that the trip should be done offline, which I obliged and that was the mistake I made.

 “On our way, he veered off the lane where we were to turn left and joined the fast lane, which was for people going straight, and I asked him why he did not turn where I asked him to, but he started shouting at me and I told him that before he got there, I told him that he was going to turn left.

 “When we got to my destination, I waved to the security guys to remove the barricades so that he could drive inside, but he insisted on not going in and I insisted on not coming down.

“When I noticed that he wanted to reverse with me still in the car, I told the security guys to put the barricades back to block the car and he was forced to turn off the engine.

“I got down and told someone to get my orderly, thinking that when he heard that, he would come to his senses, because all this while, he did not know who I am; when he heard my instruction, he started raining curses on me.

“I just told the prison warden to make sure that the car got into the compound and that the driver should be locked up and I went into the court to sit. By the time I finished sitting, which was around past 2pm, I asked my orderly if the driver was still around and I asked that he should be brought before me.

“When he was brought around 3pm and he was asked why he was insulting a magistrate, he started begging that he did not know that I was a magistrate. I did not press charges against him, because I felt that he would have learnt his lessons.”