Senator Solomon Adeola, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, claims that Mr. Adeniyi Oluwatosin Sanni, his senior aide, was killed early on Saturday, August 5, 2023, by Nigerian Army soldiers stationed at checkpoints in the vicinity of the Ikeja axis in Lagos State.
Recall that the bereaved Senator had previously stated that the information he had on the circumstances indicated that Mr. Sanni had been asked to provide the documents for the car he was driving when “security agents” stopped him at a checkpoint near the Ojodu- Berger Area of Lagos while he was on his way to his home in Isheri. He complied by calling his wife, who then sent all the documents to his phone via WhatsApp.
It was gathered that the wife called a while later and the late Mr. Sanni told her that the soldiers are still checking the vehicle’s paper. That was the last she heard from her husband and the body of Mr. Sanni, ridden with bullets was later discovered at Toyota Bus Stop area of Oshodi, close to a military barrack.
In an update about the investigation of the murder and armed robbery by the Nigerian Police Force, through a statement issued in Abuja, Senator Adeola stated that 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 Nigeria Army, Brigadier General Nsikan John Edet, through mounting of checkpoints and robbing of lone occupants of cars.
Senator Adeola in the statement he personally signed said top Police sources familiar with the investigation informed him 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.
According to information revealed by the senator in his statement, 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.
He said 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 taking 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.
Senator Adeola 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 as a pattern of killings and armed robbery has been established against soldiers mounting late night checkpoints around Ikeja with similar unreported incidences in recent times around Ikeja, adding that the Nigerian Army cannot be seen to condone or harbour rogue elements robbing and killing innocent Nigerians within its fold.
He said that till date, the black Toyota Camry of Mr. Sanni, his phones and other valuables are yet to be recovered.