Ime Akpan
Five Nigerian soldiers have been declared wanted by the Nigerian Army after they allegedly fled with a consignment containing unspecified millions of naira while on escort duty from Sokoto to Kaduna.
The cash is said to have belonged to a ‘VIP.’
The Army gave the names of the fleeing soldiers as Cpl. Gabriel Oluwaniyi, Cpl. Mohammed Aminu, LCpl. Commander Haruna, LCpl. Oluji Joshua, and LCpl. Hayatudeen.
They were said to have been members of Operation Harbin Kunama III in Sokoto.
Spokesman for the 8 Division, Nigerian Army, Sokoto, Lt. Audu Arigu, confirmed that the soldiers fled while on escort duty.
“The wanted soldiers were detailed for legitimate escort duty for a VIP. However, they chose to rob the VIP.
“Investigation has commenced to unravel the circumstances and whereabouts of the soldiers.”
Although Arigu was silent on the identity of the VIP robbed by the fleeing soldiers or the total amount of money or valuables involved in the theft, Premium Times reports that Nigerian Army insiders said the victim of the robbery is General Officer Commanding 8 Division of the Army based in Sokoto, Maj. Gen. Hakeem Otiki.
The army general is leading the military operation against bandits in the troubled northwest.
Sources said Otiki detailed the soldiers on July 11 to escort huge cash to Abuja.
The source of the money and exactly where it was being taken to in Abuja remained unclear.
It was gathered that after they escorted the cash from Sokoto to the Nigerian Army airstrip in Jaji, Kaduna State, the soldiers refused to load the money into a military jet that was supposed to airlift it to Abuja.
They were said to have conveyed the cash from Sokoto to Jaji in a convoy of a Toyota Hilux truck and a Buffalo gun truck.
According to sources, on arrival at Jaji, the five uniformed men — two corporals and three lance corporals — connived among themselves to share the cash. They then deserted military service.
“They also removed all their uniforms and abandoned their rifles in the vehicles at the air strip in Jaji,” said a top military source.
It was gathered that the soldiers were detailed from the Nigerian Army Infantry Corps Centre, Jaji, where Otiki was once a commander.
He moved them to Sokoto when he was transferred to head the 8 Division in March.
A military source said the soldiers had long been monitoring the activities of their superiors based on the functions they had delegated to them in the past.
“But after spending a long time handling transactions for them (senior officers) while they (soldiers) remained in penury, they decided to take their destiny into their own hands with the latest opportunity.
“The soldiers acted in a breach of trust. However, this is the outcome of soldiers seeing huge financial transactions being carried out by their principal but were not taken care of financially themselves.”
“The soldiers have decided to abandon military work in order to settle down with the money,” Premium Times quotes a military source as saying.
Meanwhile, Arigu said contrary to reports, the GOC was not in the convoy when the escorts absconded.
He said the GOC only detailed them from Sokoto to deliver the message.
“The GOC or the said VIP couldn’t have been in the convoy, it didn’t add up…He only sent them based on trust,” he said.
Meanwhile, military sources said an aggressive manhunt had been launched to track down the runaway soldiers and bring them to justice.
