A driver from Oyo State, Kehinde Olaleye, has narrated how he was allegedly forced at gunpoint to drive suspected telecom vandals to a robbery scene in Lagos.

Olaleye, who spoke in a video after his arrest, said he was contacted eight days earlier while at Iwo Road Terminal 2 in Ibadan to take some passengers to Lagos to pick up inverter batteries.

According to him, the trip started like a normal transport job.

“8 days ago, one of the driver of our chairman there called me that there’s there are some guys that want to go to Lagos,” he said.

The 41-year-old driver explained that the passengers told him they were inverter repairers and wanted to pick up batteries in the Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos.

He said they negotiated the transport fare before agreeing on ₦180,000, with ₦50,000 paid upfront for fuel.

Olaleye said he became uncomfortable during the journey because of the passengers’ repeated phone calls and their behaviour.

“When when I got to Oshodi, I say, ‘No, I don’t want to continue with this journey anymore.’”

According to him, the men tried to calm his fears and insisted they were not criminals. To reassure him, one of them gave him two phone numbers.

“They now said they are not thieves now, that we should go. They gave me two numbers.”

Olaleye said he immediately sent the numbers to his wife and a police officer friend in Ibadan because he was already suspicious of the trip.

“Immediately, I forwarded the two numbers to one of my friend that is a police officer in Ibadan and my friend and my wife that I’m going with some guys to somewhere, they said they want to go and carry inverter battery, o. I don’t uh my mind is not at rest, o, that they should keep the information.”

He said they later arrived in Iyana Ipaja, where the men claimed they had reached the place to collect the batteries.

Olaleye said the men got down while he went to eat, but when they returned, they asked him to continue the journey.

He said he refused because it was already late, but one of the men allegedly threatened him with a gun.

“The one in the front now open his clothes, that he will shoot me if I don’t want to go. That was when I know that ah I’m in a wrong hand.”

He said the men later stopped at another location where some of them got down and spoke with a security guard before going behind a facility and returning with batteries.

“Later, after some minutes, they came back with battery, they drop it in the car.”

Olaleye said he kept praying to see police officers because he feared for his life.

“From there, I was praying that we should see police, that my mind no dey inside, o. I’m not a robber. I’ve never robbed before in my life.”

He said his chance came when they approached a junction and he noticed a vehicle coming.

According to him, the suspects ordered him to make a turn, but he refused and switched off the vehicle.

“I say, ‘I cannot turn. Me, I cannot turn.’ Before I know, I just off the ignition and the policeman now come.”

Olaleye said the five men in the vehicle fled immediately, leaving him behind.

“The five of them… opened the car, they run away and I was telling the police that I’m a driver from Ibadan. I’m not a thief, o.”

He maintained that he did not know the suspects before the trip.

“I don’t know them,” he said.

Appealing to Nigerians, Olaleye insisted he was innocent and asked for help.

“So, Nigerians should please help me, o… People should help me, please, o.” (Tribune News)