Senator Solomon Adeola of Ogun West Senatorial District has imputed the killing of his aide, Adeniyi Sanni, to soldiers.
Sanni was murdered after he called his wife on phone to send his car documents by WhatsApp in order to show it to a group of soldiers mounting a roadblock at Ojodu-Berger area having demanded for it.
The deceased, who was heading home located around Mowe, an Ogun suburb, was later found dead with gunshot wound at Oshodi in Lagos in the early hours of Saturday, August 5, 2023.
Sanni’s principal via a statement signed by his media aide, Kayode Odunaro said soldiers killed the deceased, saying the incident followed a similar pattern of the killing of a motorist by the same military.
It read in part, “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.
