FIJ
On August 17, Yusuf Lawal was asked by his employer, Cedric Masters Autos, a Lagos State-based auto dealership company, to help deliver a brand new Toyota Corolla to an Abuja-based client.
Since the company planned on delivering two cars to two separate clients in the same Abuja on the same day, Lawal was mandated to also reach out to Ibrahim Danfulani, another company driver, so he could join him in taking a second car, a Hilux truck, along, to meet up with the scheduled delivery.
As both men left the pick up location with the cars, and in the evening of the same day, they never knew a sinister ending lay ahead
That night, a murder was committed when both drivers came across a military checkpoint in the Berger area of Lagos.
CEDRIC MASTERS AUTOS MEDIA REPRESENTATIVE’S ACCOUNT
In an Interview with FIJ, Izuchukwu Mekowulu, the media office for Cedric Masters Autos, gave a detailed account of what transpired when both Lawal and Ibrahim got to the checkpoint at Berger.
“Lawal was driving a Toyota Corolla 2022 model while Danfulani was driving a Toyota Hilux truck to Abuja when they came across the military checkpoint at Berger,” Mekowulu said.
“As they approached the checkpoint, the soldiers motioned for them to stop. While Lawal did, Danfulani did not. Instead, he went past the checkpoint in full speed. He sped off.
“When Danfulani got to Ogere, he waited for many hours for Lawal to join him, but the latter did not show up. After a while, he ended up receiving a voice not from Lawal, who was begging him in Hausa to please send N3,000 to him so he could give the soldiers who had stopped him.
“While listening to the voice note, Danfulani heard one soldier shouting in the background and asking Lawal, “what are you driving?”. After this, they snatched the phone from Lawal’s hand and Danfulani could no longer hear a thing.”