Police arrest ‘Auxiliary’, former Oyo NURTW boss

Former chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Oyo state, Mukaila Lamidi (a.k.a Auxiliary), was, on Saturday, arrested by a team of police detectives believed to have come a division in Ikeja, Lagos state.

Lamidi, who was arrested around his Olodo, Ibadan residence at the early hours of the day, had earlier been declared wanted by the Oyo state police command in June 2011.

While reasons for his latest arrest was not known yet, the driver’s union leader and his former boss and rival, Lateef Akinsola (aka Tokyo), were on the wanted list of the police over the spate of killings in the state, particularly the one in which scores of innocent persons were killed at the Iwo Road, Ibadan motor park around the time.

The arrest, according to information gathered in Ibadan, was hatched without carrying the state command along officially.

When contacted on telephone for comment on the operation, Oyo state Police Public Relations Officer Olabisi Okuwobi-Ilobanafor (SP), denied knowledge, saying "We don't have that information".

However, while reacting to the news of Auxiliary’s arrest, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain and High Chief of Ibadanland, Lekan Balogun, described it as politically motivated, alleging that it was orchestrated by the state Governor Abiola Ajimobi, the Police Commissioner Mohammed Indabawa, and the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.

"Auxiliary was picked up early this morning at his Olodo residential area in Ibadan. He was immediately driven away to Ikeja in Lagos. But, why Ikeja? Don't we have SARS in Oyo state? It is connivance among Tinubu, Ajimobi and the Oyo state police commissioner ahead of next year election.

"They see him as a threat to them in the 2015 election. That is why they want to get him out of circulation. The man is sick and is likely to die in the police custody if his case is not addressed on time. His NURTW supporters had been driven away from many motor garages.

"Meanwhile, Auxiliary and Tokyo had certain time been taken to the Inspector General of Police in Abuja by Oloye Jumoke Akinjide (FCT Minister of state) and the duo were later set free. Why the arrest now, and why is the Oyo state police command not of the knowledge of Auxiliary's arrest?" he queried.