The soldier identified by his name tag as Emmanuel B.J., is said to have initially pounced on Olaniyi and thrashed him with horse whip before he used his fists to punch him. It’s gathered that the soldier ignored pleas by passersby and food vendors at the park but instead removed the vehicle’s key from the ignition and dragged Olaniyi down from the bus and battered him the more.
It’s understood that Emmanuel held Olaniyi’s waistband and threatened to kill the driver boasting that nobody would query him if he killed the driver. The soldier was even asked to state Olaniyi’s offence but rather than explain, he was said to have slapped Olaniyi the more, hitting him over 12 times.
He said, “Who does he think he is? I will kill him and nobody will query me. I have killed many people who are older than this idiot (Olaniyi) in the past and nobody queried me for that.
“The idiot attempted to hit me while reversing his vehicle and when I asked him why, he just sneered at me. If at all he is older than me, I don’t care. I will do to him what he will never forget for the rest of his life.”
Eyewitness disclosed that Emmanuel dragged Olaniyi to the park of commercial motorcycle operators, a distance of about 50 metres, before he released him after much pleading that lasted for about 45 minutes.
After his release, Olaniyi who now wore swollen lips due to it being swollen, denied sneering at the soldier. He said he was reversing his vehicle when the soldier suddenly pounced on him.
According to an eyewitness, Festus, the beating was too much, adding that he did not expect that Olaniyi could still stand on his feet after the soldier released him. He added that it was the beating that drew his attention from where he was fixing some mechanical faults in his vehicle.
He said, “I did not know the cause of the disagreement between Olaniyi and the soldier, but from what I saw, Olaniyi was sitting in his vehicle when the soldier started beating him. I didn’t know whether Olaniyi sneered at the soldier or not.”
Ajoke who sells bread at the motor park, said she witnessed the assault from the beginning to the end. She said she joined other passersby to beg the soldier to let Olaniyi go when it appeared that he was not ready to stop the beating.
Col. Kingsley Samuel, the spokesperson for 82 Division, while reacting to the alleged assault, said he had not yet confirmed the identity of the soldier, but promised to investigate the assault.
He said, “We don’t know the identity of the soldier. Lagos is a big community; anybody can put on army uniform and impersonate being a soldier. We have had cases of impersonation before, but if any personnel of the organisation I work with commits a crime of that nature, the person will be dealt with.
“We have to find out if Emmanuel is a genuine soldier who is not impersonating. This is one of the things we will investigate. And if he is a soldier, we will find out the unit he belongs to. But I assure you that we will do our investigation.”
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