By Evelyn Usman

NO, you can never mistake him for a fake Army Corporal. Not when he is fully-kited in a well-starched Army camouflage and shining boot. What of his stern looks and the confidence he exudes! Even some genuine soldiers may find it somewhat difficult to pass 31-year-old Ipalebo Bob Manuel, popularly known as Jack, off as  a fake soldier talk more of  civilians.

But nemesis caught up with him a fortnight ago when  he was arrested by policemen attached to the Ikeja Division, while allegedly attempting to snatch a vehicle from its driver under the ever-busy Ikeja bridge. Eye- witnesses said a mild drama unfolded following his stout resistance to follow the policemen as he insisted he was a military man and could not be arrested by ”ordinary policemen.” Some of the fearful on-lookers reportedly took to their heels to avoid a likely clash between both forces while some inquisitive ones stayed to watch the drama as he was dragged into the police waiting van to their office.

•Not at ease...Fake soldier

At the station, Ipalabo reportedly claimed to be a soldier attached to the 9 Brigade, Ikeja , where to his least expectation, he was taken to, to verify his claims. There he  was discovered to be fake. As he was being questioned, one of the soldiers reportedly dashed to a board where photographs of suspects who had once been arrested by the base were displayed.   And,  to their astonishment, Ipalebo’s  photograph was among  the several others.

In an interview with Crime Alert, Ipalebo,  the father of two, narrated how he was once arrested and jailed for two years over a similar offence. As he gave an unpalatable history of his life, he broke down in tears, begging to be let off the hook with a promise to return to his village and take to farming.

Hear him:

I ‘ve lost everything

Narrating his plight in tears, he said: “I have lost everything. What else am I living for? My right limb is  dead and I cannot breathe properly because of the bullet hole in my neck, all in a bid to sustain myself. As I speak, I have no home, no money to start life afresh and no parents to even accept me. I am just like a lost sheep. I have always wanted to be a soldier but I cannot because of my disabled hand. Please, forgive me because I have ended up losing everything in my bid to make ends meet.”

My journey to jail

Police sources alleged that the suspect was involved in an incident at the Mile 12 area of  Lagos in September 2008, in which a police patrol van was reportedly set ablaze by some persons suspected to be  militarymen. He was reportedly shot while attempting to snatch a rifle from a policeman. The suspect, who was clad in a Mobile Police uniform, was later rushed in an unconscious state to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Ikeja, where  he miraculously survived.

But he denied ever attempting to snatch the rifle and also being a robber as alleged. Rather, he stated, “I have never stolen anybody’s thing. What I was into was escorting  goods from Seme to Mile 12 after which I would be paid. The incident at Mile 12, two years ago, happened when, on returning from one of the trips where I escorted a trailer of rice and apple, I gave a policeman under the Mile 12 bridge N2,000 as we used to do and he allowed us drive inside the garage.

”But while I went to smoke and drink ogogoro, the driver of the truck came to me claiming that the police said we just drove past him without paying.  I insisted we had paid. But to my surprise, when I went to explain to him, he was already deflating the tyres.   Attempts by my colleagues and I to stop him failed. At that point, the policeman cocked his rifle. As he was about going to remove the valve from the other tyre, I pushed him and he fell on the culvert and almost immediately, there was an explosion from his gun and a bullet pierced through my neck and came out from the back.

”The next place I found myself was at LASUTH, with my legs chained to the bed. That was when I was told that the incident caused a violent reaction which led to other escorts setting the police van ablaze. From there, I was taken to court and sentenced to two years imprisonment.”

Things fall apart

On whether he has ever had any connection with the Military, he said his late father was a military man and that he had lived the better part of his teenage life at the Army Barracks, Yaba, which suggested why he was able to know much about Military terms and formations anytime he was arrested.

Ipalebo, the Kalabari, Rivers-State-born man, was discovered to have dropped out of secondary school in form two, an action he attributed to his inability to take care of himself following the demise of his father.

“I am the first child of my father and I barely knew my mum because I was told she died when I was a toddler. My dad then got married to another wife who had four children for him. Things were going on smoothly with me at the Lagos City College, Yaba, until the demise of my father who was then serving in Jos as a Staff Sergeant. I had to drop out of school because his widow said she could not take care of the expenses. From there I became a conductor before I finally left the house and joined other friends. I have tried my hands on so many things until I got a friend whose father had retired from the Army. He was the person that gave me the first uniform, with which I was accompanying vehicles from J5, Seme to Lagos, at the end of which I would be paid N2,000.”

Arrested again

”After serving out his jail term, a fortnight ago, not a few people would have expected Ipalebo to, at least, look for something reasonable to do.  But like a ”stubborn goat,” he was again caught allegedly attempting to snatch a vehicle from its owner under the Ikeja bridge, in full Army camouflage.
He told Crime Alert that he only attempted to help the motorist.  According to him, “ After my release, I went to Mile 12 where I met one Segun , a dismissed soldier who has an Audi car with which he plied Seme/Lagos.  It was Segun who  gave me this uniform while I bought the boot at Seme for N2000. I had only gone twice before I was arrested.   Because of the last experience at Mile 12, I decided I would not be staying late at the market. But because I had no place to lay my head, I decided to be sleeping in an open space at Ipodo in  Ikeja area. That fateful day, I was so pressed that I started looking for a place to empty my bowel. It was around 10 p.m. I approached one Segun, who directed me towards under the bridge. As I approached the bridge, I saw three  soldiers in Military camouflage and another wearing a Military cap, struggling with a driver who had a Military cap and belt inside his Vanagon bus.  When I went and asked what the matter was with the intention of saving the commercial bus driver, I overheard one of the men asking the driver if he was a Military man, but the driver replied that a military man owned the vehicle.   Immediately they saw me, they started greeting me because of the rank on my uniform and I appealed to them to leave the man. At that moment also, some RRS policemen came to beg. One of them even approached me on seeing I was the senior among others.  I then asked the driver to give the policemen money for intervening.   While the discussion was going on, one of the policemen suspected that I was a fake soldier.  Unfortunately at that point, the other persons who were also in military uniforms had run away and I was taken to the station where I insisted I was attached to the 9 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Ikeja Cantonment. I guessed my day of reckoning had come because, ordinarily, they would have allowed me to go. But they sent me to the base to ascertain my claim.”

My regrets

”I regret every of my actions. Since I started, I have not made a reasonable amount that I would fall back on. I was only able to save N14,000 before I was sent to jail. I ended up using the money to pay for some medication while in jail.  I am not a thief . Even when I was in jail, I was given addresses by some robbers to check on them when I get out. But I will never steal.   I swear with my life to turn a new leaf if only I will be given a second chance”, he stated.
The suspect who was found with one artillery identity card of the Nigerian Army, according to spokesman for the 9 Brigade, Captain Olaolu Daudu, would be handed over to the Police.

“ He  claimed he was serving at the 9 Brigade when arrested. Later, he said he was serving at 26 Battalion, Sokoto and again at 535 Artillery, Ojo. At a point, he said he was dismissed from the Military Police Personnel Headquarters, Apapa, Lagos, where a call was put through and we were told he never served there. He has never been in the Army,”  Daudu enthused.