The chairman of the Senate committee on appropriations, Solomon Adeola, on Monday, said soldiers operating checkpoints around the Ikeja axis of Lagos state allegedly robbed and killed his aide, Adeniyi Oluwatosin Sanni, on Saturday, August 5, 2023.
Senator Adeola made this revelation in a statement he personally signed and made available to reporters in Abuja through his media aide, Kayode Odunaro.
Shortly after the incident, Adeola said he had information 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.
It was gathered that that was said to have been their last conversation before she was informed of the discovery of Sanni’s corpse, riddled with bullets, at the Toyota Bus Stop area of Oshodi, close to a military barrack.
Adeola said: “I am of the firm belief, based on available facts at the disposal of the Police that my 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 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.
Senator Adeola further stated: “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 condone 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.”
