A Private with the Nigerian Army has been arrested during an alleged foiled attempt to snatch a motorcycle from its rider in Agboju area of Lagos. Recovered from the suspect, who was clad in complete Military camouflage, was a locally made pistol and three rounds of 9mm ammunition. The suspect, Daniel Okeke, as gathered, boarded the commercial motorcycle commonly known as okada from Mile Two to Ojo Barracks where he claimed he resides. However on reaching Agboju, the rider alleged that the suspect alighted and attempted to snatch the motorbike from him. In the ensuing struggle, other commercial motorcyclists descended on the suspect who they accused of being one of the cultists that had been disturbing them along that route. They were at the verge of lynching him, when he managed to riddle his way out of their midst to a nearby police station.
In an encounter with Okeke who was paraded alongside other robbery suspects terrorising Lagos State, he said. “I am not a fake soldier. I got enlisted into the Army in 2008. I am also not a robber. “I joined Black Axe while I was studying Public Administration in IMT, Enugu but could not complete my studies for financial reasons. I participated actively in the group’s activities while in school. That was when I bought the pistol and the ammunition found on me on the day I was arrested. “I bought the gun at Onitsha, Anambra State for N5000 and buried it in our compound in the village when I left school to join the Nigerian Army. I brought the gun from the village to Lagos to protect myself. I buried it in my apartment at Ojo Cantonment where I reside.
“I drive trucks at a site where the Army is building houses for its personnel. At the close of work I took a bike from Mile 2 to Ojo Barrack. I and the cyclist agreed on a fare of N300 to my destination. But on getting to Agboju, the okada man stopped and said he wanted to carry another person. “I protested, saying the agreement was to take me from Mile 2 to Ojo Barrack for N300 and not for him to stop half way to carry another person. I told him I would rather alight without paying him than allow him carry another passenger with me. “At this point, he started fighting me.
The cyclist insisted l must give him N150 which I objected because l had only N300 on me which was supposed to take me to Ojo Barracks. “Without taking time to find out what the matter was, his colleagues joined him to beat me up. Sensing that my life was in danger, I ran towards Agboju Police Station for safety. “The Police found a pistol on me and detained me until the next day, from where I was transferred to SARS in Ikeja, saying I had attempted to snatch a motorbike,” he added.