Dismissed Soldier arrested for operating Okada in Army uniform in Lagos

The police in Lagos State have arrested a 54-year-old dismissed soldier, Thompson Ogbe, for using his old army uniform to operate as a commercial motorcycle rider in the Isolo area of the state.

Accoridng to the police, Ogbe was dismissed from the Nigerian Army (NA) over a yet-to-be-ascertained reason. The police further said the suspect was arrested after they received information that many commercial motorcycle operators now dressed in military camouflage to avoid arrest while operating on restricted routes.

Recall that the state government outlawed the activities of commercial motorcycle operators in 10 local government areas and Local Council Development Areas (LCDA) in the state over the killing of a sound engineer.

In his confessional statement, the dismissed soldier said;

“I started working as an Okada rider to provide food for my family rather than go into crime. The uniform is to stop urchins working as ‘agbero’ from harassing and demanding money from me. It was not meant to deceive policemen on road duty.”