A man, identified simply as Hamzat has claimed that soldiers invaded his block factory located at Bankole Estate, Magboro, in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Hamzat told Punch Metro that the security personnel stormed his facility and seized his Toyota RAV 4 vehicle.
He explained that the soldiers numbering up to five arrived in a pick-up van and started looking for his younger brother, Sulaimon, who is an Islamic cleric.
Hamzat said the issue began after he introduced his girlfriend’s brother to Sulaimon for prayers.
He said after the prayer was over, the boy who is suspected to be a Yahoo boy, wanted more special prayers and Sulaimon introduced him to another yet-to-be-identified Islamic cleric in the Agege area of Lagos.
Hamzat said, “After my brother introduced him to another Alfa for special prayer, maybe he was duped (or he didn’t get the expected returns after payment), I don’t know. My brother also said he did not know what transpired between the boy and the other Alfa.
“On Tuesday, I was called by someone that some people were at my block factory and they wanted to buy blocks. So I rushed down. I told the person the price of my blocks. In the course of that, I just saw some soldiers coming into the estate. They came to me and said they wanted to see me. I asked them what happened, but they started grabbing me.
“When I looked into their car, I saw the guy I introduced to my brother and his sister, who is my girlfriend. Then the soldiers said I should follow them. They said they would drive my car with them, but I refused, I said I couldn’t give them my car key but I would drive along with them since I did not steal or commit any crime.”
He added that the soldiers took him to their barracks at Ebute where they allegedly collected N10,000 from him and seized his car pending when he would produce his brother.
Hamzat noted that one of the soldiers kept calling him and asking him to produce his brother.
When the publication contacted the spokesperson for the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, Lt Col Ayeni Olabisi, he promised to find out about the matter.
On her part, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Omolola Odutola, said the matter was being investigated.