Nigerian army detains wife and children of soldier who fled with N400m

Ayo Oluwaniyi's family, the wife of one of the soldiers who allegedly stole N400 m they were escorting, lamented the Nigerian Army in Ondo State's arrest and imprisonment of the lady and her three kids.  

According to reports, after her husband, Gabriel, was recognized as one of the five troops alleged to have stolen the cash they escorted from Sokoto to Kaduna, 37-year-old Ayo and her kids were detained.    

A member of the family, who spoke to Punch on condition of anonymity, said Ayo and her kids were arrested at the 32 Artillery Brigade, Owena Barracks, Akure. She said they were denied access to family members, adding that the family was concerned about the health status of Ayo and her children.  

Five troops were revealed in the first week of July to have stolen the cash while on duty of escort from Sokoto to Kaduna.  Reportedly, the former General Commanding Officer, 8 Division, Nigerian Army, Sokoto, Maj. Gen. Hakeem Otiki, had asked the soldiers to escort the money and deliver it to a very important person in Kaduna.  

The spokesman for the 8th Division, Lieutenant Audu Arigu, confirmed the incident by saying that the investigation had begun and the runaway soldiers were identified as Corporal Gabriel Oluwaniyi, Corporal Mohammed Aminu and Lance Corporals Haruna, Oluji Joshua, and Hayatudeen Abubakar. According to military sources, the runaway troops switched their rifles and left their mobile phones at the Infantry Corps in Jaji, Kaduna State, before escaping.

The source of the Oluwaniyi family said, "Ayo's spouse is a soldier who has been deployed to Sokoto State. We learned that they were not escorting cash for the first time on their boss's orders, so they decided to abscond with the cash. We learned that their uniforms, weapons and phones were dropped. It was through the telephone of Ayo husband that they got their number.
Probably they sent the data here in Ondo to the division, and that's how she was detained. We learned the other four soldiers ' wife had escaped. Ayo and her kids have been in custody for two weeks. They won't let us see them and they didn't let them change their clothes;They just kept telling us not to be mistreated. We're concerned; just about a year old is one of her kids.
"They said the victims were being detained because they were unable to find their husband and she was probably in contact with him. She said she hadn't seen or heard from her husband, but they said if Ayo and her children were held, perhaps he would come out. We can't talk to her; it's one of the guarding troops we're talking to.