Aceland Royal Gardens Hotel Chairman, Eze Alex Nwoye, Rewards Homeless Tricycle Operator , Chukwudi Okeke,Who Returned King’s Bag Containing Some Foreign Currency, Valuable Documents

By Emmanuel Edom

A popular Maxim says that “Good name is better than riches, even as Honesty, they say has great rewards.This is even as the foundation stone for a balanced success is honesty.

It is in recognition of these aphorisms, that the Chairman of Aceland Royal Gardens hotel, located at 4, Abiodun Alimi Street, NNPC, Ejigbo, lagos State, Dim Ochiriozuo N’ Uga and Eze Ndigbo in Ejigbo LCDA, Eze Ambassador Dr. Alex Sunday Nwoye, last week rewarded the rare honesty exhibited by a homeless Tricycle Operator, Mr. Chukwudi Okeke, Who Returned a bag containing some amount of money in foreign currencies, laptop , Credit card, Green card and some valuable documents ,belonging to a king based in the United States of America ,USA, Eze ,Dr. Bona Eze, which was forgotten in his hire purchased Tricycle.

Indeed, since the bag was delivered intact to by the 35-year old homeless tricycle operator, to the owner ,who is based in United States of America, USA,many well meaning Nigerians have expressed their appreciation and surprises, indicative that there is hope for Nigeria, ranked as one of the most corrupt Nations of the World.

Impressed, the Philanthropist,Eze Nwoye, who was happy that there are still honest Nigerians, had invited the Tricycle Operator to his office, where he encouraged the young man with a cheque containing a mouth watering some of money.

Eze Nwoye’s kind gesture, immediately attracted another huge monetary donation from the Eze Ndigbo in Abaranje, Eze Chukwudi Okparaku, who pleaded that he did not want the amount he gave to be made public.

News Planet International reports that the honest Tricycle rider, Mr. Okeke, who is still single, homeless and hails from Umungwa in Obowo town, Imo State, overcame temptation and urge to take the money and valuables but returned them intact, despite the fact that he was in great need of renting an accommodation, repairing his tricycle ,which he is riding on hirer purchase arrangement, coupled by the fact that his sister was admitted in an Ogun State hospital same period.

According to him, when he realized that there was a forgotten bad at the back seat of his Tricycle, he opened it to know the content and after deducing that it must have belonged to the passenger he had dropped on charter at Aceland Royal Garden hotel, same Friday night, 6th December, 2024, he went back to the hotel, where he met the now frustrated Dr Eze, who was said to have already given up the hope of getting back his missing bag.

Narrating the incident, Okeke said that two days after the incident had happened , when he traced the suspected owner to the hotel and interacted with the hotel security,the security man at the hotel , then went to the Eze’s room and informed him that he has a visitor.

Eze was said to have came down and met the rider, Okeke, who showed him a wrist watch and asked if he was the owner, which Dr Eze , was said to have confirmed that he was the owner of the wrist watch.

Okeke , then introduced himself that he was the Keke rider that dropped him off at the hotel two days ago and he forgot his bag in the tricycle, which he had kept safely in his house while looking for him.

He then asked the owner to follow him to his house to carry his bag. Dr Eze was afraid because he doesn’t know the identity of Okeke and a security arrangement was made.

They followed him to his house and he handed over the bag intact. Dr Eze offered him some money but he rejected the offer and explained to him that there was no need for the money, considering that he must gone through trauma over the missing bag.

While handing him the bag, Chukwudi Okeke explained that he opened the bag because he was looking for his number in order to contact him and all he saw were foreign numbers. And so he decided to pick his wrist watch from the bag to come to the hotel to show him ,in order to know if he was actually the owner of the bag.

The tricycle rider explained that it took him two days because he had rushed to Ogun State to see his sick sister and when he came back, he decided to come and check him at the hotel and hand the bag over to him.

Narrating further,Okeke stated that he usually works in the evening and that on Friday, 6th December, 2024, he saw Dr Eze at Jakande Gate at about 11pm, which was late with some bags. He stated that he initially wanted to pass but decided to carry him and brought him to the hotel.

He explained that when Eze got down from the Keke,some of the workers in the hotel, who knew the Eze ,were excited and assisted him to remove his luggages from his Keke, but forgot one , before he rode off to continue his work.

He explained that he noticed the bag but was not even sure of the owner. He took, kept it beside him and when he got home, he suspected that the bag belonged to Dr Eze, who he had dropped off at the hotel.

He said when he opened the bag to see if he will see the number of the owner in order to call him, he discovered important documents, foreign currencies and many other things.

“I decided not to tell the person I am squatting in his house at Cele Egbe area of Ikotun ,so that the bag will not be tempered with. I went to Ogun State to see my sick sister before I decided to come and check on the owner at the hotel and give his bag to him.”

Okeke, explained that he saw the money but was not moved at all because his grand mother, who brought him up had told him not to take what doesn’t belong to him, before he came to Lagos and started riding Keke 11 years ago.

He explained that when he told his friends about the bag and that he had returned it, they mocked him and called him ‘fool’ ; that God decided to bless him and he threw the blessing away. But he said he had no regrets because he knew it was the right thing to do.

The owner of the bag, Dr Eze, while reacting, said that he is still shocked that there is someone like Chukwudi Okeke in Nigeria, stating that he had given up hope of seeing the bag .

Eze Bona, was said to have confirmed that there were some foreign currencies, expensive jewelries laptop, credit cards and vital documents inside the bag and because of the kind of documents inside the bag, he reported the matter to the Police at Ejigbo Division.

He explained that when he returned the bag, everything was intact and no single thing was removed.

“I want to tell the whole world that Chukwudi Okeke is an honest Nigerian. And deserves commendation from all Nigerians for his strong morality because not every young person will do what he has done”, Eze was quoted to have said.

The Tricycle Operator, Mr. Chukwudi Okeke, can be reached on his phone number 09112797792 for appreciation.