Nigerians must have been left shell-shocked last week when the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Solomon Adeola, laid the blame for the August 5 killing of his senior aide, Mr. Adeniyi Oluwatosin Sanni, at the door of soldiers of the Nigeria Army operating checkpoints around the Ikeja axis of Lagos State. According to the senator, information made available to him indicated that the deceased was flagged down at a checkpoint around the Ojodu-Berger Area of Lagos on the way to his home in Isheri by men in Nigerian Army uniform who asked him to provide the documents of the car he was driving, which he did through a call to his wife who sent electronic copies of all the documents. A while later, the woman placed another call to the deceased, who reportedly told her that the soldiers were still checking the vehicle’s papers. Sadly, she was not to hear from him again: his bullet-ridden body was found at the Toyota Bus Stop area of Oshodi, close to a military barracks. According to the senator, facts at the disposal of the police suggested that his aide was killed by a syndicate of soldiers of the 9 Brigade, Ikeja Cantonment of the Nigeria Army, alleged to be mounting checkpoints and robbing car owners. He added that senior police sources familiar with the investigation informed him that a similar incident occurred around the same Ojodu-Berger on August 17. The senator consequently called on the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Taoreed Lagbaja, to fish out the culprits and bring them to book.

The other incident referenced by the senator is already the subject of controversy. It involved one Yusuf Lawal, a driver who was reportedly asked by his employer, Cedric Masters Autos, a Lagos State-based auto dealership company, to deliver a brand new Toyota Corolla to an Abuja-based client. Another driver in the company’s employ, Ibrahim Danfulani, was mandated to join Lawal on the trip, as he was to take a second car, a Hilux truck, to another client. Said Izuchukwu Mekowulu, media officer for Cedric Masters Autos: “They (Lawal and Danfulani) came across the military checkpoint at Berger. As they approached the checkpoint, the soldiers motioned for them to stop. While Lawal did, Danfulani did not. Instead, he went past the checkpoint in full speed. When Danfulani got to Ogere, he waited for many hours for Lawal to join him, but the latter did not show up. After a while, he ended up receiving a voice note from Lawal, who was begging him in Hausa to please send N3,000 to him so he could give the soldiers who had stopped him. Lawal’s corpse was later found around Iyana Ipaja axis.”

The 81 Division of the Nigerian Army is investigating the Lawal incident. According to the Acting Deputy Director of Army Public Relations of the 81 Division, Lieutenant Colonel Olabisi Olalekan Ayeni, the Division is carrying out the investigation in conjunction with the Lagos State Command of the Nigeria Police and the culprits, if identified as serving soldiers, would be made to face the full wrath of both military and civil laws. He added: “While the matter is under investigation, Headquarters 81 Division requests the family of the deceased to exercise patience and wait for the outcome of the investigation as whoever is found wanting will be made to face disciplinary action. The Nigerian Army has zero tolerance for troops’ misconduct or involvement of its personnel in any form of criminality, hence, will not allow this allegation to go unraveled.” On his part, the General Officer Commanding 81 Division, Major-General M.T Usman, commiserated with the family of the victim, promising that justice would be done. Disturbingly, however, the military authorities are yet to respond to Senator Adeola’s allegation.

Perilous times are indeed here. While some members of the security agencies have been implicated in grievous crimes in times past, reports of robbery by men in military uniform, the highest power in the state’s repressive apparatus, are very rare. The allegation by the chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations is indeed weighty, as is the one involving citizen Lawal. If investigated and found to be true, the allegations would speak to the virtual collapse of security in the country. We shudder to think that men of the army sworn to the defence of the country could have acted as leading agents of insecurity, robbing and killing innocent citizens. Truth be told, the fact that there have been unconfirmed reports of robbery and killing by some people in uniform around checkpoints and other places across the country should have invited serious soul-searching, public scrutiny and robust responses from authorities of the armed forces to show that they were taking precautions and putting in place necessary structures to prevent such ugly developments within the ranks of their operatives.

With the pointed allegations by Senator Adeola and Cedric Masters Autos, the concerned authorities can definitely not play the ostrich. They have to ensure thorough investigations in order to expose the perpetrators of the alleged crimes. We believe that the vast majority of officers and men of the armed forces are disciplined, diligent and patriotic citizens carrying out their lawful citizens and uninvolved in criminal activities. If, however, there are a few bad eggs within their ranks who are involved in dastardly activities, they constitute a dent on the name and image of the military and must be treated like the common criminals that they are. If, on the other hand, the individuals involved in the alleged crimes are not affiliated with the Nigerian Army or any branch of the Nigerian military, then it will be incumbent on the authorities to explain to Nigerians how they obtained the uniforms they allegedly wore and the arms they allegedly used to perpetrate robbery and murder. Nigerians and the authorities need assurances of sanity within the ranks of the armed forces and other security agencies.

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