Staff arrested after threatening to kill promoted colleague, children

Police officials have arrested one Peter Okoro, an official of a motorbike assemblage company in Lagos, for allegedly sending a threatening message to the Financial Controller of the company, Mrs. Grace Ejeh.

Okoro, who is the union chairman in the company, reportedly asked Ejeh to resign within three weeks or risk being killed together with her two children.

Okoro sent the threat message on November 7, 2020 – three days after Ejeh was promoted to her new position from Assistant Financial Controller.

In the message, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent, Okoro boasted that he only needed three bullets to ‘finish’ Eje and her “two kids,” but said he didn’t want to spill blood provided she vacated the office within three weeks.

The text read in part, “I have been following u (you) right from ur (your) house. I also follow ur (your) kids to school on a daily basis, but I don’t want to waste my bullet on any of u (you).

“I can equally pour u (you) acid and allow u (you) to die slowly but I will not; better leave (name of the company withheld) and stay away from ur (your) house. Don’t even border (sic) to find me or trace me because u (you) will regret it. A word is enough for the wise; don’t be smart….Be warned.”

Ejeh told our correspondent that the threat left her and her children traumatised, adding that the case was reported to the police at Area G, Ogba.

Detectives were said to have traced the phone number used for sending the message to Okoro and he was arrested on Thursday, November 21.

She said, “Since then, life has been so traumatic. My children are still young. Mistakenly I had a discussion about it in their presence. They are scared to go into the bathroom. I was told to leave my house and my children had to be stopped from going to school. It has been very traumatic.

“Initially, the suspect, who happens to be the union chairman in the company, confessed that the message was sent through his mobile phone. But he claimed somebody must have used the phone to send the SMS when he left it in the union office where he was charging it. He later owned up that he sent the message.

“There is an ongoing negotiation with the union on retrenchment. Until a few weeks back, I was the Assistant Financial Controller. The redundancy exercise started with the expatriates. My immediate boss who is an expatriate was affected.

“The policy of the company is that a Black person can’t be the Financial Controller. So, his exit did not preempt anything until recently when some of the directors called all the heads of department, announced my boss’ exit and told them that for the first time, they would not replace him with an expatriate. They told the HoDs that I would step in as the Financial Controller. The announcement was made on a Wednesday and I received the SMS on Saturday (that weekend).”

Okoro was arraigned on Wednesday on two counts bordering on threat to life and was remanded in Kirikiri Correctional Centre pending when he would perfect his bail conditions.

The case was adjourned till January 19, 2020.