Lawyer petitions chief of army staff, accuses soldiers on extortion of donkey dealers, Killing of livestocks

•As he demands swift intervention

By Peters Monday, Abuja

The Donkey Dealers and Merchant Association of Nigeria have accused Nigerian Army of wilful extortion of members and arrest of vehicles leading to death of livestocks in major expressways in the country.

The association, in a petition through its lawyer, Omes Ogedegbe Esq, said military officers along the major expressways in the state of Sokoto, Kaduna, Abuja, Kogi, Edo and Delta-State with Edo-State leading the pack of barefaced extortion of his client’s in a manner that had adversely affected his clients and resulting into loss of Domestic Livestock (Donkey) in an alarming scale.

The petition titled, “IN THE MATTER OF CONTINOUS EXTORTION OF DONKEY DEALERS AND MERCHANT ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA BY OFFICERS OF THE NIGERIAN ARMY RESULTING IN MASSIVE ECONOMIC LOSS AND DEATH OF LIVESTOCK. A DEMAND FOR YOUR URGENT INTERVENTION, said: “We are Solicitors to Donkey Dealers and Merchant Association of Nigeria who shall herein after be referred to as “Our Clients” on whose firm instructions and behalf we hereby write and deliver this letter to you”.

According to the legal firm, the petition had become very imperative owing to the recent actions of officers of the Nigerian Army located along the Benin Bye-Pass in Edo-State, who sometime in October, 2023 accosted its clients vehicles conveying their Donkeys to Delta-State and made financial demands that could not be met by its clients at that point in time, pointing out that the military officers so delayed its clients that over fifty (50) percent of the donkeys died as seen from the photograph attached hereto.

The lawyer emphasised that the military had remained a leading ambassador of an institution with zero tolerance for extortion and corruption, adding that the Chief of army staff should act urgently to intervene as protest is no longer a fashionable means of addressing issues except otherwise.

The petition reads, “It is our instruction that Our Clients deals on livestock and Donkey in Commercial quantities and gets their supply from Sokoto State, Nigeria.

“Our Clients have observed with shocking alarm and dismay of the actions of military officers along the major expressways in the state of Sokoto, Kaduna, Abuja, Kogi, Edo and Delta-State with Edo-State leading the pack of barefaced extortion of our clients’ in a manner that have adversely affected our clients and resulting into loss of Domestic Livestock (Donkey) in an alarming scale.

“That this petition has become very imperative owing to the recent actions of officers of the Nigerian Army located along the Benin Bye-Pass in Edo-State, who sometime in October, 2023 accosted our clients vehicles conveying their Donkeys to Delta-State made financial demands that could not be met by our clients at the point in time.
That the military officers so delayed our clients to a point that over fifty (50) percent of the donkeys died as seen from the photograph attached hereto.

“The military is has remained a leading ambassador of an institution with zero tolerance for extortion and corruption, hence our demand for your urgent intervention as protest is no longer a fashionable means of addressing issues except otherwise.
We look forward to your timely intervention”, it added.

The legal practitioner had urged the chief of army staff to call his men to order to avoid inciting avoidable provocation in the country.