At the sight of these Nigerians whose pictures appear above, one would conclude they are military personnel of any of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Unfortunately, they are mere impersonators.
Forty-one of them have so far been arrested by operatives of Operation Checkmate of 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, since the Federal Government handed down the lockdown order in Lagos, Ogun States and Abuja, to curtail the spread of the Covid-19.
Surprisingly, some residents in the areas where these suspects were picked, were yet to be convinced that they were not military personnel after all, following the dexterity with which they carried on.
Residents of Olugba community, along Ilogbo road, Ogun State, were the most stunned, as one of their own, whom they held in high esteem, Allen Afolabi Adegboyega, was picked on April 15, 2020, for parading himself as an Army Captain.
Captain Allen as he was fondly called, also commanded respect in the midst of land grabbers in the area. None of them dared encroach on his property, right from when he started building, until it was completed, apparently for fear of the consequences. His building also had a warning signpost which read ‘Military zone, keep off’, to further ward off intruding land grabbers.
However, during his arrest, he was discovered not to have had any close dealing with the military. During a search at his apartment, an enlarged picture of him in Nigerian Army’s woodland camouflage with Captain’s rank badge, was seen hanging on the wall.
Also discovered was a throw pillow which had picture of him in military uniform and in mufti. The throw pillow was a souvenir he reportedly shared to friends to mark his 52nd birthday, on April 15, 2020
