We’ve been illegally escorting goods since 2015 – Dismissed soldiers
Two dismissed soldiers arrested in Lagos for allegedly hijacking a truck carrying N13.5 million worth of goods have confessed engaging themselves in the escort of cargo as a way of surviving since they were dismissed from military service in 2015.
The Lagos State police command described the two men as leaders of an armed robbery gang that had been hijacking trucks and diverting goods on highways.
The dismissed military personnel were identified as Moses Johnson, a former lance corporal in the Nigerian Army and Lance Corporal Akintola Abiodun, formerly of the Nigerian Air Force. A third suspect is Osegbu Chidi, who was allegedly impersonating as an Army lance corporal.
Johnson told journalists yesterday at the Command Headquarters, Ikeja, that he had been doing escort job of cargoes using his military uniform to stave off hunger.
“I never knew that this one was hijacked. I only got a call as usual from Oje Oloja to escort a truck from Ajah to Epe. They have not even paid us before our arrest. What happened was that a truck ran into our vehicle. While we were arguing, Oloja came and ordered one man to drive the truck away. I was at home when someone called to say that I should come for another escort job. I was arrested on arrival,” he said.
The police said the suspects, on September 2, 2018, intercepted a truck registration number LSR 266XW, laden with groundnut oil and valued at N13.5 million at Epe, Lagos.
The Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, said that the dismissed soldiers, dressed in military uniforms, blocked the road, giving members of the public the impression they were real military personnel on legal duty.
Edgal said the gang stopped a Kano State-bound truck close to Ijebu Ode and pushed the driver and conductor out of the vehicle.
“At about 22.30 hours, policemen on stop-and-search duty saw the truck coming and intercepted it. In the process, Monday and Emeka were arrested, and during interrogation, they mentioned Johnson, Abiodun and Chidi as part of the people that hijacked the truck. The truck and goods were recovered intact and the suspects had been identified by the victims. They will soon be charged to court.” There was drama at the Oja-Oba customary court, Mapo, Ibadan, yesterday, when a father of three, Oluyomi Ogunsanya, burst into tears while presenting a pack of female condoms to prove his allegation of promiscuity against his wife, Sherifat.
But Sherifat, a Secretary at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, who was praying the court to dissolve her marriage to Ogunsanya, was quick to respond that the condom was a gift from health workers who were campaigning against unwanted pregnancy.
The petitioner had told the court that pressure from her husband had made her hypertensive and she had, therefore, decided to bow out of the marriage.
She said, “He usually finds a way to create disagreement between us, which has resulted in high blood pressure for me. He is a troublemaker and never cares for the children in the marriage. Please help me appeal to him to allow us live separately. We built our first house together but I am the sole owner of the second house. I am tired of him.”
A weeping Ogunsanya maintained he was a caring father to his children, as well as to his wife who was seeking for divorce.
The respondent said he had evidence to prove that his wife was having extramarital affairs, despite his efforts to ensure comfort for his family.
The president of the court, Chief Odunade Ademola, adjourned the case till October 8, 2018 for further hearing, explaining the long date was fixed to allow the couple’s grown-up children intervene in the crisis and possibly resolve it.