In order to facilitate further investigation, legal action, and restitution, Senator Adeola has requested that Major General Taoreed Lagbaja, the Chief of Army Staff, supervise the search for his aide’s killers.
The senator who had recently lost a loved one had earlier 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 on his way to his home in Isheri. He complied with their request by calling his wife, who then sent all the documents to his phone via WhatsApp.
Additionally, it was reported that the late Mr. Sanni’s wife called him after a short period to inform him that soldiers were still inspecting the vehicle’s paperwork. That was the last time she spoke to her husband, and later that day, his bullet-riddled body was found in Oshodi’s Toyota Bus Stop neighbourhood, adjacent to a military barracks.
In an update on the investigation into the murder and armed robbery by the Nigerian Police Force, Senator Adeola said in an Abuja statement that he is of the firm belief—based on the information at the Police’s disposal—that his aide was killed by a group of soldiers working under the newly deployed Commander of 9 Brigade, Ikeja Cantonment of the Nigeria Army, Brigadier General Nsikan John Edet, through the setting up of checkpoints.
In the statement he personally signed, Senator Adeola claimed that top police sources familiar with the investigation told him that another Nigerian was killed in a similar brutal killing and armed robbery that happened near the same Ojodu- Berger late Thursday night of August 17, 2023. His body was found around Iyana- Ipaja after soldiers took him away from the checkpoint.The senator said that the troops were unaware that the driver of the automobile they killed and carried away was the second vehicle in a convoy of two vehicles travelling in the same direction.
The second car was stopped to verify the paperwork for his vehicle while the first car sped past the soldiers’ checkpoint. After some time had passed and the second car had vanished, the driver of the first car (name withheld) called the driver of the second car to find out what had happened. The second car’s driver informed the first car’s driver that the soldier at the checkpoint had escorted him to Iyana Ipaja.
He didn’t hear from him again, and like Mr. Sanni, his body was eventually found discarded on the road. A pattern of armed robberies and killings in the neighbourhood involving guys wearing Army uniforms was established when the survivor in the first car reported the incident to the police.
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A pattern of killings and armed robberies against soldiers mounting late-night checkpoints around Ikeja has been established, and similar unreported incidents have occurred recently around Ikeja, Senator Adeola urged the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja, to direct the search for the assassins of his aide for further investigation, prosecution, and justice for the deceased. He also stated that the Nigerian Army cannot be seen to cordon off or harbour
The member claimed that Mr. Sanni’s black Toyota Camry, his phones, and other valuables have not yet been found.
