TELL Magazine

Mukaila Lamidi aka Auxila, former chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Oyo State chapter was on Tuesday paraded in Lagos State by men of the state’s Police command.
Lamidi was arrested on May 10 by a combined team of police anti robbery squad, following a confessional statement by Abdulazeez Amao, an illegal arms dealer, who mentioned him as one of his customers.
Upon interrogation Amao had confessed that one Alhaji Mukaila Lamidi a.k.a Auxiliary, the immediate past chairman of the NURTW, Oyo State chapter bought one AK-47 rifle and one English pistol from him.
Lamidi was found to be illegally in possession of two loaded magazines with 15 rounds each and one packet of .9mm live ammunition containing fifty rounds when he was arrested at Olodo area of Ibadan, Oyo State.
Parading the suspect, Umar Manko, Lagos Police Commissioner, CP said, “After 3 days of diligent follow-up, Mukaila Lamidi a.k.a Auxiliary was intercepted and arrested at Olodo area of Ibadan on 10th May, 2014 at about 2130 hrs while driving in his ash-coloured Nissan Quest Space Bus with Reg. no. CA 647 KSF and one Zastava pistol with breach no. 150533, two (2) loaded magazines with 15 rounds each and one packet of .9mm live ammunition containing fifty rounds were recovered from him.”
Lamidi admitted ownership of the ammunitions but said, it is for his self-protection citing the case of assassination of his first son by unknown persons as one of the reasons he decided to arm himself with the loaded gun.
“Yes I am the owner of the pistol. I bought it for N300,000 after gun men invaded my house and killed my first son. I was wounded in that attack but I survived. Since then I decided to get a gun for self-defence. I have never used this gun to commit crime. I never gave it out to anybody to use to commit crime,” Lamidi said.
Lamidi argues that his arrest was staged managed by the All Progressives Congress, APC in Oyo State, following his refusal to join the party.
“I am being set up by the APC because I told them I cannot abandon my political party because of money they are offering me. They know that I have huge followers that I can convince to join the ACN so when I refused to join them, they set me up with this allegation just to punish me,” the suspect said.