Lagos Resident Narrates Being Assaulted By Two Soldiers On Motorbike For Condemning Their Recklessness
A Lagos State resident, Adebayo Adesola, has recounted how two Nigerian soldiers riding on a bike attacked, physically assaulted and brutalised him on Tuesday evening in the Ikeja area of the state over his comment on their reckless driving.
He identified the soldiers as Okwo C. O. and Timothy. M.
Adesola told SaharaReporters that the incident happened at about 4.50 pm while with two female passengers – one visually impaired passenger in the front passenger seat and the second passenger in the back seat.
He said, “Miss Bolanle Okumodi (visually impaired) sat in the front seat while Mrs Maria Olufunmilade was sitting at the back, directly behind the front passenger.
“We were listening to a radio programme on Nigeria Info 99.3FM. The female presenter was discussing the arrest of the soldier who drove against traffic by Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on a section of the Lagos-Badagry expressway.
“Upon reaching the beginning of the newly commissioned flyover bridge in front of Ikeja Recreation Club on Awolowo Way, Okwo C. O. – I guess I read his nametag right – who rode the motorcycle turned dangerously in front of my vehicle.
“Upon seeing his action, we all said in a chorus that, isn’t it what the radio station is discussing that is happening before our very eyes?”
Adesola said that the soldiers who probably overheard their discussion chased after his vehicle and hit his front bumper.
He said, “There was a gridlock on the bridge. He disembarked from the bike. Okwo C. O hit me with his fist on my left cheek.
“I couldn’t see anything for a few minutes. I managed to drive down to Ajayi Farm, a temporary bus stop on the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway and I got myself back.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu last Tuesday ordered the arrest of a soldier and three other motorcyclists for driving against the direction of traffic on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
The governor in a video that went viral was seen ordering his men to put one of the motorcyclists who claimed to be a soldier into the vehicle, stating that he was going to lock him up.
A soldier who believed that his colleague had done nothing wrong to have deserved the arrest reacted to the video where he lambasted Governor Sanwo-Olu, saying that the state governor had no right to arrest a soldier, especially in front of his barracks.
The angry soldier claimed that soldiers are not under the control of any state governor but their senior officers.
But SaharaReporters reported on Wednesday that Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, said that the soldier who cast aspersions on the office and person of Governor Sanwo-Olu had been arrested.
Lagbaja, who disclosed this in Enugu State during his operational working visit to the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, said that the action of the soldier did not represent the army.
He explained that the soldier who was arrested by the governor for plying “one-way” contravenes what Nigerians stand for, the constitution and the laws of Lagos State, adding that they (the Army) stand for discipline.
