By Evelyn Usman

A 28 year-old dismissed soldier has been arrested in connection with the abduction of a private guard with Costa Link Companion, Kirikiri Lagos, and a botched robbery plot, last week.

The suspect, identified as Emmanuel Audu, 28, in the company of two others, were alleged to have abducted the guard, identified simply as Chinedu, in Maza-Maza area of Lagos and taken to Monkey Village, Kirikiri, where he was beaten comatose and N8,000 collected from him.

After his arrest, Audu claimed to be an officer of the Intelligence Unit of the Nigerian Army, at Child Avenue, Arakan Barracks, Apapa. But when authorities of the unit were contacted, they denied having anyone by the name Emmanuel Audu in their record.

The suspect who was paraded by the Lagos State Command spokesman, Superintendent Dolapo Badmus, yesterday at the command headquarters.

He admitted to have been dismissed in 2013, but claimed to have been reinstated in 2015 and two uniforms given him at the Military Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State.

The suspect, according to Badmus, would be charged to court soon.

Audu’s story
Speaking on his alleged involvement in the abduction saga, Audu said: “A primary school mate, whom I met at a drinking joint in Lagos, Bandi, introduced me to one Chinedu (private guard) and Obiakpor. He told me they were members of same cult group.

“In another meeting, Bandi told me to go and snatch a vehicle and when I asked him what I was going to use for the operation, he said he had a pistol. But I refused to do it.

“In this case, he called me on the phone to follow him to Maza-Maza. When I got there, I met him, Obiakpor and Chinedu. All of a sudden, an argument over payment of money ensued between them, in the process of which Chinedu was taken to Monkey Village, where he was beaten by Obiakpor and Bandi, while I stood watching and begging them to leave him alone.

“They claimed he refused to give them money with which to prepare themselves for a car-snatching operation. They collected N8,000 from him which was handed to me. That is all I know about it.

“I am still a serving soldier. I was dismissed in 2013 for abandoning work for 21 days to attend to my sick mother without permission. But I was reinstated by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“I was told I had been posted to serve at Arakan Barracks, Apapa. But the signal had not reached them when I got there. It was while I was trying to look for how to keep body and soul together that I came across Bandi, who landed me in this trouble.”