Army uniform gives away kidnapper trying to snatch dane gun

A soldier who attempted to snatch a dane gun got into a broil with a vigilante group at Odo Pako Ota, in Ado Odo/Ota LGA on the weekend. A distress call to the division’s DPO Godwin Idehai would later reveal the soldier was more than he looked.

Earlier, a W/O 2 military officer was kidnapped Friday night at Alagabado, Lagos, and was moved to a hideout in the area. His uniform, ID card, phone, and three ATM cards were taken from him.

As CSP Idehai asked the troublemaker of a soldier to identify himself during the broil with the vigilante group, it became glaring something was amiss.

The suspect, Waliu Oloyede, in army uniform, could not probably declare who he was. So he was detained.

“While in detention, police got information that the suspect and others at large abducted a W/o2 military officer at about 11:30 pm of 16th July 2021and took him to their hideout in Alagbado, Lagos State, where he was stripped of his uniform, they collected his identity card, his three ATM cards and phone before the victim escaped from them,” Oyeyemi told DAILY POST on Monday,” said Ogun PPRO Abimbola Oyeyemi.

Oyeyemi stated that the suspect was unable to give account of how he got the military uniform, or the address of the unit where he is serving, hence he was detained for impersonation.

“It was the victim’s uniform the suspect put on to commit another crime before he was arrested,” adding that the Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, has ordered the transfer of the suspect to the anti-kidnapping unit of the state CIID for further investigation.’

Kidnapping has become rampant in Nigeria since 2015, and the rate ramped up after the 2019 general election, with the bandits, mostly Fulani from the northwest, spreading across the country.

Criminal elements in the south have however seized the blanket allegation of Fulani banditry—to get involved in kidnapping for ransom and weapons.