The lawmaker representing Ogun West, Senator Solomon Adeola, has alleged that soldiers of the Nigerian Army were responsible for the death of his aide, Adeniyi Sanni.
The senator made this known in a statement on Monday, signed by his media aide, Kayode Odunaro.
It had been reported that the lawmaker lost his aide, Sanni, in the early hours of Saturday, August 5, 2023.
Senator Adeola 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.”
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.
Subsequently, the wife called a while later, and the late Sanni told him soldiers were still checking the vehicle’s documents.
That was the last 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.
Senator Adeola, however, clarified on Monday that his aide was killed by men of the Nigerian military.
He said, “I am 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 Nigeria Army, Brigadier General Nsikan Edet, through the 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 soldier’s checkpoint, but the second car was stopped to check his vehicle’s papers.”
The lawmaker further stated, “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 uniforms was established.”
The lawmaker, therefore, called on the Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. 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.
“To date, the black Toyota Camry of Mr Sanni, his phones, and other valuables are yet to be recovered,” he lamented.”
(Punch)
