A retired civil servant awaiting the payment of his gratuity by the Osun State Government, Moses Olatunde, was reported to have languished in prison for five months for failing to pay for the food he allegedly bought on credit.
Olatunde, who was said to have retired from the Ministry of Education as an Administrative Officer in 2017, is still awaiting his gratuity from the state government.
This, it was learnt, subjected him to begging and living from hand to mouth.
The situation had forced him to resort to getting cooked food on credit from food vendors in his neighbourhood in order to keep body and soul together.
According to him, he took to getting food on credit when efforts to get his entitlement from government failed.
Specifically, between June 2017 and January 2018, Olatunde, aged 65, reportedly took food on credit from food vendors with the promise to offset the debt once he received his gratuity.
But trouble started for him when one of the food vendors giving him food on credit at Ola-Iya area, Osogbo, Mrs. Kudirat Yusuff, got fed up as a result of Olatunde’s inability to offset the debt.
When the case was reported at the Police station in Osogbo, Olatunde was arrested.
The food vendor said that Olatunde bought cooked food worth N269,940 (two hundred and sixty nine thousand, nine hundred and forty Naira) on credit without any means of paying back.
After much efforts, he was said to have borrowed the sum of N160,000 to pay a part of the debt being owed.
Unable to pay the balance, the Police dragged him before a Magistrate’s court on October 9, 2018, on a count charge bothering on stealing.
Though he was granted bail, he was reportedly remanded in Ilesa prison for failing to meet the bail conditions.
The police prosecutor, Inspector Jafani Muslim, told the court that the accused person committed the offence between June 2017 and January 2018 at Ola -Iya area of Osogbo.
Muslim said the accused person did cheat Mrs Kudirat Yusuff by buying cooked food N269,940:00 on credit and failed to pay.
However, when the case came up on Friday, the representative of the Ministry of Justice, Mr Olajubu, who, on behalf of Director of Public Prosecution, gave a legal advice on the case, said it was a simple breach of contract.
He added that there was no established evidence of crime that could have warranted being accused of stealing.
Olajubu said, “Having gone through the case file, it is evident that a simple contract has been formed by the parties. All the elements of a simple contract have been fulfilled and consequently, the accused person has breached the term of the simple contract.
“There is no evidence of any crime being perpetrated against the complainant by the accused other than the breach of a simple contract which should result to a civil matter.
“I am of the opinion that this is premised on civil case and not criminal in nature. However, steps should be made to ensure the accused person pays his debt. The accused person is, however, not liable for any criminal offence whatsoever.”
The Magistrate, Mr O. T Badmus, struck out the case after getting assurance of payment from counsel to the accused person, Mrs Julie Olorunfemi, Osun State Coordinator of Legal Aid Council.
Meanwhile, Olatunde has seized the opportunity to appeal to the Osun State Government to “approve the payment of his gratuity.”
During an interview with our correspondent after being discharged by the court, he said, apart from the debt that brought him to court, he needed to seek medical attention and also pay up other creditors being owed.
