The Nigerian Army in Ondo State has reportedly detained the Ayo Oluwaniyi, wife of one of the soldiers who allegedly stole N400m they were escorting from Sokoto to Kaduna in July.
Herald Nigeria learnt that 37-year-old Ayo and her children were arrested after her husband, Gabriel, was identified as one of the five soldiers involved in the crime.
A family source confided in newsmen that Ayo and her children were being detained at the 32 Artillery Brigade, Owena Barracks, Akure.
The Oluwaniyi family source stated, “Ayo’s husband is a soldier and he was deployed in Sokoto State. We learnt that that was not the first time they were escorting money on the instructions of their boss, so they decided to abscond with the money.
“We learnt that they dropped their uniforms, guns and phones. It was through Ayo husband’s phone that they got her number. They probably sent the information to the division here in Ondo and that was how she was arrested. We learnt that the wife of the other four soldiers had escaped.
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“It’s been two weeks since Ayo and her children have been in detention. They won’t allow us to see them and they did not allow them to change clothes; they just kept on telling us that she was not being maltreated. We are worried; one of her children is just about a year old.
“They said the victims were being detained because they could not find her husband and probably she was in touch with him. She said she had not seen or heard from her husband, but they said maybe he would come out if Ayo and her children were held. We cannot speak with her; it is one of the soldiers guarding her that we speak to.”
The former General Officer Commanding, 8 Division, Nigerian Army, Sokoto, Maj. Gen. Hakeem Otiki, had reportedly asked the soldiers to escort the money and deliver it to a Very Important Person in Kaduna.
The 8 Division spokesperson, Lieutenant Audu Arigu, had confirmed the incident, saying investigation had commenced and identified the runaway soldiers as Corporal Gabriel Oluwaniyi, Corporal Mohammed Aminu and Lance Corporals Haruna, Oluji Joshua and Hayatudeen Abubakar.