The Police in Oyo State, on Friday, declared Mukaila Lamidi popularly known as Auxiliary, the immediate past Chairman of the state National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) wanted.
The Police said the former union leader is wanted over attempted murder, causing grievous harm, arms dealing, murder, armed robbery and kidnapping at Oke-Ogun and Ibarapa areas of the state.
Auxiliary, who was sacked and his group disbanded by the Oyo state Governor, Seyi Makinde during the week was reported to have unleashed terror with some members of the disbanded group, causing unrest in the state, in reaction to his sack.
Following this development, the state police command raided his hideout in Ibadan, the state capital, on Tuesday, where guns and other weapons were recovered and arrested 78 of his supporters, suspected to be members of the disbanded group.
Auxiliary, escaped with some of his boys while police recovered sophisticated arms, ammunition, charms etc from his home and hide-out, Diamond Hotel, Ibadan.
Adewale Osifeso, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), while briefing newsmen at the command’s headquarters in Eleyele said a suspected drug dealer and associate of the sacked union leader was also arrested with hard drugs worth millions of naira.
Osifeso said: “The general public, particularly good citizens of the state, is hereby notified that Lamidi Mukaila, aka Auxiliary, whose photograph appears above, is wanted by the Nigeria Police Force, the state command.
“Sequel to the strategic intelligence coordinated raid on Diamond Hotel, Alakia-Isebo, Ibadan, being the criminal hideout of the sacked PMS chieftain, Auxiliary, on Tuesday, May 30, 2023, which led to the arrest of 78 hoodlums and recovery of a large cache of sophisticated firearms and ammunition, further discreet intelligence gathering revealed that some other sophisticated firearms, ammunition and weapons were still concealed in the hideout.
“Acting on the strength of the intelligence, on May 31, 2023, a team of police operatives attached to the command monitoring unit executed a search warrant around the premises of the above-mentioned hotel and in the process, the following items were recovered: 70 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, 400 pieces of live cartridges out of which 62 had been expended, 13 pieces of 9-MM ammunition, two SMG rifles with two magazines and one pump-action rifle.
“Others are nine locally-made pistols, two locally-made English pistols with magazines, nine jack knives, three axes, 400 pieces of long cutlasses, one hammer, one walkie-talkie device, one army camouflage jacket, one bulletproof with the inscription, ‘Kiriji Heritage Defence’, three long swords, three passports and a huge cache of criminal charms. The list also includes three picture portraits and one traditional crown.”