August 22, (THEWILL) – The Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Solomon Adeola, has alleged that soldiers operating checkpoints around the Ikeja axis of Lagos State robbed and killed his aide, Adeniyi Oluwatosin Sanni, on Saturday, August 5, 2023.
Senator Adeola made the allegation in a statement he personally signed and issued to the media on Monday, by his media aide, Kayode Odunaro.
The Senator had earlier stated that information available to him on the circumstances indicated that Sanni was stopped at a checkpoint around the Ojodu- Berger Area of Lagos on his way to his home at Isheri by “security agents”.
He added that the deceased was asked to provide the documents of the car he was driving, which he did through a call to his wife, who sent all the documents to his phone through a WhatsApp message.
The Senator noted that when the wife called a while later, the late husband told him soldiers were still checking the vehicle’s particulars.
According to the Senator, that was the last time she heard from her husband and the remains of Sanni, ridden with bullets, were later discovered at the Toyota Bus Stop area of Oshodi, close to a military barrack.
However, in an update on the incident about the murder and armed robbery investigations by the Nigerian Police Force, the Senator, in his statement on Monday, said he is of “the firm belief, based on available facts at the disposal of the Police, that his aide was killed by a syndicate of soldiers operating under the newly deployed Commander of 9 Brigade, Ikeja Cantonment of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Nsikan John Edet, through mounting of checkpoints and robbing of lone occupants of cars.
“Top Police sources familiar with the investigation informed me that a similar brutal killing and armed robbery occurred around the same Ojodu-Berger late Thursday night of August 17, 2023, resulting in the killing of another Nigerian, whose body was discovered around Iyana-Ipaja after he was taken away by soldiers from the checkpoint.
“Unknown to the soldiers, the occupant of the car they killed and took away his car was the second car in a convoy of two heading towards the same destination.
“The first car passed the soldiers checkpoint but the second car was stopped to check his vehicle’s papers.
“On noticing the absence of the second car after a while, the occupant of the first car (name withheld) placed a call to his colleague in the second car, who informed him that he was being taken to Iyana Ipaja by the soldiers at the checkpoint.
“That was the last he heard from him and his dead body was later discovered, dumped on the road just like Mr. Sanni.
“The survivor in the first car reported the case to the Police and a pattern of armed robbery and killing in the area involving men in Army uniform was established.”
Adeola, therefore, called on the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja, to direct the fishing out of the killers of his aide for further investigation, prosecution and justice for the deceased.
He said such a pattern of killings and armed robbery had been established against soldiers mounting late-night checkpoints around Ikeja with similar unreported incidents in recent times around Ikeja.
He added that the Nigerian Army cannot be seen to cordon off or harbour rogue elements robbing and killing innocent Nigerians within its fold.
According to him, “Till date, the black Toyota Camry of Mr. Sanni, his phones, and other valuables are yet to be recovered.”
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