The four staff, it was learnt, were granted bail on Monday through the intervention of some anti-corruption and human rights activists, who decided to take up the matter.
A former Minister of State for Education, Kenneth Gbagi, who
is currently nursing a governorship ambition in Delta State in 2023 on the platform
of the Peoples Democratic Party, has arrested and charged four of his staff
working in his hotel to court for allegedly stealing his N5,000,
SaharaReporters has learnt.
It was reliably gathered that Gbagi last week Friday arrested the four staff working in Signatious Hotel, Warri, Delta State, after they were striped naked and photographed inside the hotel before handing them over to the police.
Our correspondent gathered that after dehumanizing the four
staff, a male and three females, they were taken to the Ebrumede Police Station
to be remanded in custody.
Speaking in confidence with our correspondent, a staff of
the hotel revealed that his colleagues were arrested by the former minister
over the alleged theft of the said amount.
He said, "My boss, former Minister of State for
Education and owner of Signatious Hotel, Chief Kenneth Gbagi, arrested four of
my colleagues working for him over the stealing of N5,000 from the hotel when
actually the N5,000 was given as a gift to them by a guest because of their
good behaviour."
While giving the names of the arrested colleagues as Gloria
Oguzie, Victor Ephraim, Rosslyn Okiemute and Achibong Precious, the source
said, "Before they were arrested by the police on Friday last week at the
hotel, the four staff were stripped naked while they were photographed in the
presence of the police.
"We learnt that the dehumanising treatment was instructed by our boss."
It was further gathered that the hotel management forcefully
made some withdrawals from the bank accounts of the four staff through their
ATM cards before the police took them away in a waiting van.
The four staff were charged before a magistrate court
sitting in Effurun after four days of detention.
In a five-count charge, the police accused the suspects of
conniving among themselves to steal monies ranging from N156,000, N110,000,
N5,000 and N2,000 owned by Signatious Hotel and committed an offence punishable
under section 516 and 390 (9), of the criminal code Law Cap21C Vol.1 Law of
Delta State.
The four staff, it was learnt, were granted bail on Monday
through the intervention of some anti-corruption and human rights activists,
who decided to take up the matter.
Warri-based human rights lawyer, Omemiroro Maxwell Ogedegbe, who confirmed the story, said that the four staff were granted bail by a magistrate court sitting in Effurun, Delta State.
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