The Lagos State Police command has arrested a Nigerian Army deserter identified as Shedrack Christopher, 29, for stealing two Infinix Hot 4 handsets valued at eighty-six thousand Naira (N86,000) from the bar and the room of Express View Hotel in Ketu, Ijanikin area of Lagos.
The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, CP Zubairu Muazu who made this known in a press briefing in Lagos on Wednesday said that the Ijanikin Police Station had on the 19th of March, 2019 at about 6.00am received a complaint from the hotel that a lodger identified as Shedrach Christopher, who claimed to be a soldier stole the phones from the bar and the rooms.
Muazu added that exhibits recovered from the suspect included the two phones, one axe, one cutlass and knife, Nigerian Army Warrant card, Honda Accord car with registration number Lagos SMK 846 and Army uniform.
According to the CP,” He confessed to have deserted from the Nigerian Army in 2017 at Maiduguri. That he participated in killings at Igando, Lagos and Edo State in 2017 after deserting the Army”.
Responding to a question on whether they have contacted the Nigerian Army to verify the claims of the suspect, he said,” We have written to the Military to confirm though we have not gotten their response yet. Of course, among the exhibits recovered, there is a military ID card which the authenticity is yet to be confirmed.
“We have written to them to confirm, first and foremost, whether his assertion of being a military man was true and under what circumstances he left the military and to confirm the genuineness or otherwise of the ID Card. We have written them and we are awaiting their response”.
It was also discovered that the suspect used two different names for his military identity card and his Driver’s license. While his military identity card was bearing Shedriack Christopher, the driver’s license had Chikwe Kenneth John.
Reacting to the allegations, the suspect, Shedriack Christopher who claimed he joined the Nigerian Army in 2013 and was drafted to Operation LAFIYA DOLE where he served until November 2018 when he deserted said that he had gone to the hotel to meet with his girlfriend adding that when he got there, he saw the phones and decided to keep them till the owners ask of them even as he claimed that he did not steal the phones.
He further denied that contrary to the Police account that he participated in killings at Igando, Lagos and Edo State in 2017 after deserting the Army that he had never involved himself in any killing.
On why he was having two different ID cards bearing two different names, he said, “I joined the Nigerian Army in 2013. As at then, the age for application was from 18 to 22. I was 26 year old then, so, a soldier advised me to change my age and name. I changed my name, reduced my age and sat for GCE to get the O’level required for application. That explains why I have two names. The driver’s license was done when I was still a mechanic and a driver before joining the Army.”
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