A man, who posed as a soldier of the Nigerian Army, has been arrested by the Ebonyi State Police Command for alleged extortion and holding innocent citizens hostage.

Morris Mbam, 25, confessed after his arrest that he was an engineer.

WuzupNaija gathered that the Police had declared Mbam wanted on 25 December 2018 after he allegedly held occupants of a residential building in Onu-Ebonyi, an area in Abakakili, hostage for over two hours.

The suspect, who hails from the Okpuitim community in the Izzi Local Government Area of the state, was arrested by police operatives attached to the Central Police Station, Abakaliki, at a commercial bank in Enugu while attempting to make some withdrawals.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Muhammed Mustafa, who paraded the culprit, said,

“He [Mbam] has been taking people hostage and as he went about intimidating people and claiming that he was a soldier, the police got wind of his activities and our men swung into action and got him arrested.

“And before his arrest, he had been on our wanted list and he was arrested on January 11, 2019. He had for long been parading himself as a soldier before the operatives of the Nigeria Police from the ‘A’ Division (i.e. Central Police Station Abakaliki) arrested him.”

The CP said the suspect was in the habit of extorting money and goods from innocent citizens under the guise of being an officer of the Nigerian Army, adding that on December 25, 2018, he held occupants of a residential block hostage in Onu-Ebonyi and extorted from them N40,000 and one Tecno KA7 Spark phone.

He said the phone had since been recovered.

The suspect confessed to the crime. He added that he lied that he was a soldier to get the sum of N3000 owed him by one of the occupants of the building.

Mbam, who claimed to be an engineer, said,

“I’m from the Okpuitim community in the Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

“I’m not a soldier. I was parading myself as a soldier because I sold phone to somebody last year worth N10,000, but the man gave me N7,000. So, when I came back in November last year from the city, I asked him to pay the balance of N3,000 and he refused. I met his landlord and told him to tell the man that I am a soldier that he should pay me my money or I would take action. I did that so that the man would pay me the N3,000.

“I have never used a soldier camouflage; I only said that I was a soldier in order to make the man pay my money fast. I’m an engineer.”