‘Why I impersonated staff sergeant’

A 27-year-old man, Usman Yaya, who was arrested yesterday at Lekki, Lagos, wearing a Nigerian Army face cap and claiming to be a staff sergeant, has confessed he wore such a cap and purported to be a military man  with a view to extorting money from commercial drivers, as well as from workers on construction […]

A 27-year-old man, Usman Yaya, who was arrested yesterday at Lekki, Lagos, wearing a Nigerian Army face cap and claiming to be a staff sergeant, has confessed he wore such a cap and purported to be a military man  with a view to extorting money from commercial drivers, as well as from workers on construction sites.

 The young man, who hails from the Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State, disclosed that he stole the Nigeria Army cap from his brother, who, he said, is a soldier serving in Abuja.

 Yaya was arrested yesterday morning by operatives of the Lagos State Task Force for allegedly obstructing officials of the enforcement unit of the agency from performing their legitimate duties during the demolition exercise of some shanties allegedly occupied by miscreants and hoodlums around the White Sand School in Lekki. 

 During interrogation, Yaya said that he came to Lagos in February 2017 and has not been able to secure any job since then, hence the resort to an illegal activity to take care of his needs.

 He said: “It is this my vulnerable situation that forced me into wearing the Nigerian Army cap to collect money from innocent members of the public, particularly commercial bus drivers plying Victoria Island to Lekki every evening.” 

 He pleaded with the government to temper justice with mercy as he is ready to stop the illegal dealings and return the Nigerian Army cap to his brother at Abuja. 

 The Chairman of the Lagos State Task Force, Superintendent of Police Olayinka Egbeyemi, who confirmed the incident, said Yaya had the effrontery to beat up a para-military officer attached to the agency. 

 Egbeyemi said investigation revealed that the suspect had been terrorizing members of the public around the area, adding that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, has directed that the suspect be immediately charged to court.

 A commercial bus driver, who identified himself simply as Gani, alleged that Yaya and his friends had been terrorising them along the Lekki-Epe expressway collecting N100 each from every commercial bus plying the area.