The police at Elemoro Division, Ibeju Lekki, Lagos, southwest Nigeria, have arrested a suspected fake soldier after he battered a labourer for allegedly refusing to give him a N3,000 bribe. The incident occurred at Hi-Tech yard, Eko Akete, Awoyaya, Ibeju Lekki. After investigation by Corporal Raymond Udoeka and his team, the suspect, Emmanuel Joseph, 34, was charged before a Tinubu Magistrate’s court, Lagos on a five-count charge of felony to wit, assault occasioning harm, stealing and impersonation.
Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the suspected fake soldier to the police from his hospital bed, the severely injured victim, James Ihonde, a native of Benin City, Edo State, southsouth Nigeria, said: “I went to Hi-Tech yard to eat in a canteen and I met a man in military uniform with his friend inside the canteen. I requested for food from the owner of the canteen. “Suddenly the man in the military uniform barked at me and said I have no respect for the Nigerian Army and that I was supposed to salute him, a military man, before requesting for food inside the canteen. He later said I must pay him and his colleague the sum of N3,000 as bribe before I could eat food in the canteen. “Immediately I replied that he has no right to challenge me inside the canteen, the man and his friend descended on me and beat me with military belt and wood. They stripped me naked and inflicted injuries on my two eyes and parts of my body.
“They stole my handset, the N4,000 in my pocket and the sum of N6,000 belonging to the owner of the canteen. They later demanded for the sum of N3,000 from me as bribe before they could allow me to go and treat myself. Residents in the area contributed the money and gave it to them before they abandoned me and left the scene.” Following the incident, the police traced the suspect to a beer parlour and arrested one of them. During interrogation, Joseph, the arrested suspect, allegedly confessed to the crime and denied being a military officer. When asked how he came about the military camouflage uniform he was wearing, Joseph allegedly told the police that he wears the uniform to cheat members of the public because he was jobless.
“I am not a soldier. I wear the military camouflage to harass and intimidate people and dispossess them of their belongings to survive since I am jobless. I learnt the military tactics when I attended a military secondary school in Akure, Ondo State. I regret my actions,” he allegedly told the police. The offences the suspect committed, said the prosecutor, Supol A. C. Orji, contravened sections 409, 171,285 and 77a of the criminal laws of Lagos State, 2011. The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge and the Magistrate, Mrs. S. K Matepo, admitted him on bail in the sum of N50,000 with two sureties in like sum.
She adjourned the matter till 24 September, 2013 for mention, while the defendant was taken to Ikoyi Prisons pending when he will fulfil the bail conditions.
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