ENigeria newspaper reports that Mr. Adeniyi Oluwatosin Sanni an aide to Senator Solomon Adeola was killed in the early hours of Saturday, August 5, 2023, in a controversial circumstance still unraveled completely at the time of filing this report.
Narrating the story, Senator Solomon Adeola (Yayi) accused men of the Nigerian Army – a syndicate of soldiers under Brigadier General Nsikan John Edet who specialize in mounting illegal checkpoints and robbing lone occupants of cars as being responsible for the death of Sanni.
The statement credited to Yayi has since sparked tension in Lagos State among residents who fear the presence of rogue soldiers said to have taken over the city.
In reaction, the Lagos State government had since instructed security agents to go hard on drivers of vehicles with unregistered number plates and other vehicle documentation offenses.
However, Senator Solomon Adeola in his initial statement said that preliminary information at his disposal at the time indicates that his aide, Mr. Sanni was stopped at a checking point around Ojodu- Berger Area of Lagos on his way to his home at Isheri by “security agents” who asked him to provide the documents of the car he was driving, which he did through a call to his wife who sent all the documents to his phone WhatsApp.
It was gathered that the wife called a while later and the late Mr. Sanni told her that the soldiers were still checking the vehicle’s paper. That was the last she heard from her husband and the body of Mr. Sanni, ridden with bullets was later discovered at the Toyota Bus Stop area of Oshodi, close to a military barrack.
Consequently, Yayi while providing an update on the investigation said, top Police sources familiar with the investigation informed him that a similar brutal killing and armed robbery occurred around the same Ojodu- Berger late Thursday night of August 17, 2023, resulting in the killing of another Nigerian whose body was discovered around Iyana-Ipaja after he was taken away by soldiers from the checkpoint.
According to information revealed by the senator in his statement, unknown to the soldiers, the occupant of the car they killed and took away his car was the second car in a convoy of two heading towards the same destination.
He said the first car passed the soldiers checkpoint but the second car was stopped to check his vehicle’s papers. On noticing the absence of the second car after a while, the occupant of the first car (name withheld) placed a call to his colleague in the second car who informed him that he was being taking to Iyana Ipaja by the soldiers at the checkpoint.
That was the last he heard from him and his dead body was later discovered dumped on the road just like Mr. Sanni. The survivor in the first car reported the case to the Police and a pattern of armed robbery and killing in the area involving men in Army uniform was established.
Senator Adeola called on the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja to direct the fishing out of the killers of his aide for further investigation, prosecution and justice for the deceased as a pattern of killings and armed robbery has been established against soldiers mounting late night checkpoints around Ikeja with similar unreported incidences in recent times around Ikeja, adding that the Nigerian Army cannot be seen to condone or harbour rogue elements robbing and killing innocent Nigerians within its fold.
He said that till date, the black Toyota Camry of Mr. Sanni, his phones and other valuables are yet to be recovered.
On Monday afternoon Senator Solomon Adeola came under heavy attack from aggrieved Netizens who hold a form belief that his comments were reckless and a show of high-handedness.
Others called out the Senator for rushing to the media to publicize the adoption of the children of the deceased as well the alleged N55 million cash gift said to have been raised by his associates.
ENigeria Newspaper collected some of the comments which made the Senator to trend on X trendsmap on Monday afternoon. See them below:
Demayo @cutekunma
I am of a school that think that Senator Adeola should let proper investigation take place, a public officer of such a status should be cautious from making inflammatory statements.
Sir Dickson @Wizarab10
Senator Adeola need to stop going public with everything. Neither the family of the deceased nor the people he accused of murder would feel very safe in this instance. Why is a consolatory gift in the newspaper?
Wisdom should prevail over publicity.
𝕀 𝔹 ℝ 𝔸 ℍ 𝕀 𝕄 @ogbeni_ib
It would have been appropriate for Senator Adeola to wait until investigators were finished before imposing restrictions on the military; this kind of criticism of the armed services is not appropriate. – According to Punch
Saucy ❤️ @suhailat___
Giving investigators the chance to finish their work before imposing restrictions on the military would have been the right course of action for Senator Adeola; this type of criticism towards the armed forces is not respectful. – Reported by punch
Sir Dickson @Wizarab10
Replying to
@Wizarab10
The allegation is impulsive and indicting to the image of the military.
Murder is a capital offence. Unproven allegations like this made by a Senator does not only do damage to the accused’s reputation but could put their lives at risk. Senator Adeola ought to know better.
Demayo @cutekunma
This article is a must-read for all. It emphasizes the importance of Senator Adeola refraining from hastily making baseless and irresponsible accusations against the country’s military forces, he shouldn’t do that
No Name @Allways_God
Several disconnected claims have been made by Senator Adeola who should have allowed the proper authorities do their job before making unfounded allegations. Plus, why was 55m raised for the victim’s family in the wake of his death? There are a lot of questions riding on this.
Mupeeyy🦋🥀 @mupeedah_Oumar
There seems to be suspicion of wrongdoing in the death of Senator Adeola’s aide, Adeniyi Sanni. It’s possible that he might have been a casualty of police brutality, although the accuracy of this allegation is still uncertain.
NORTH Your Regular Guy😜@_Ra_him
Senator Adeola would have properly done the right thing, not just go ahead to report to media. My thoughts oo…
Hoping this issue is rectified soon, and the right judgement passed.
Sir Dickson @Wizarab10
We must curtail emotional outburst that are damaging to others. Everyone need to be interested in truth and not just vengeance. Even vengeance must be directed at the right person and that can only happen only when truth prevails. Senator Adeola should know this.
Sir Dickson @Wizarab10
Having proven his allegation wrong as the Brigadier could not have been responsible given he had been posted out of jurisdiction allegedly responsible for the murder long before the killing, Senator Adeola went ahead to accuse another person – Brigadier-General AM Adetuyi.
Below is direct link to the trend map containing several reactions from netizens.
https://twitter.com/search?q=%22Senator%20Adeola%22&src=trend_click&vertical=trends
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