THE NATION
Kamardeen Onikunkewu had no inkling of the fate that awaited him on August 3 when he rushed out of his home to seek the release of his drivers from the grip of policemen attached to Zone 2 headquarters, Lagos. The truck drivers were said to be on their way to deliver some goods for a food processing company when they were flagged down by the cops around the Sagamu axis of Ogun State.
Onikunkewu, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Olaiya Logistics Limited, said he tried to intervene in the matter for possible release of his drivers and trucks with registration numbers BDG 227 YD and APP 730 YA when the police team assaulted and extorted him to the tune of over N2.5 million, which they forced him to transfer in various sums to some POS operators (Omolara and Kehinde and Aminat) who in turn released the money in cash to the policemen.
He said: “On August 4, 2023, I got a call from one Kazeem who said that one Joshua gave him my contact and that he wanted to hire my trucks to deliver some goods for his employers, a food processing company, in Abuja. I knew the said Joshua was one of the leading persons that give me haulage jobs hence I accepted to deliver the goods for N750,000 but we eventually settled for N600,000.
”I went to the location where the goods were being loaded into the trucks and I gave my drivers and their assistants some money for their trip and left the place. I demanded an upfront payment after the goods were loaded into my trucks but I was told that I would be paid afterwards. Strangely, when my drivers gave me the waybill of the job, I saw Auchi, Delta State, and Oyo on the document.
“While the trucks were waiting to fuel, they were again asked to proceed to Mile 2 to pick up some goods. So I asked my drivers to take the trucks back to the yard.
It was while they were trying to park the trucks that some policemen from Zone 2 headquarters stormed the place and arrested my drivers.” The transporter explained that when he was told that the police had intercepted his drivers and trucks, he quickly rushed to the scene and tried to introduce himself as the owner of the vehicles, but his intervention was met with severe brutality that left him with serious injuries.
“When I went to the policemen, they came up with various reasons for arresting my drivers and trucks. First, they claimed my drivers were smoking Indian hemp, and they later said they were caught with some prostitutes.
They demanded that I get them some drinks before we could talk about securing freedom for my driver and trucks.
“They said the only thing that could enable us to discuss how to prevent my drivers and trucks from being taken to their office was if I paid for the beer they bought from a woman at the filling station where my trucks were intercepted.
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