Fake Army Col. In police net for extorting people

A fake Army Colonel has been arrested for molesting and extorting members of the public.



The suspect, Harry Perry Obiajuru, popularly known as Colonel Harry, had two soldiers who posed as his orderlies. He had a vehicle which number plate was concealed with the United States Plate cover permits.

Recovered from his apartment in Shasha area of the state, where a pump action rifle, two Military Camouflage caps, a  sword, horsewhip, and two vehicle plate covers on which were inscribed UN Officers Car Park permit.


Investigation according to the Police revealed that in  February, Obiajuru and the two soldiers that had been acting as his orderlies stormed a hotel in Shasha area of the state and forced four youths who refused to pay manager of the hotel, after spending four nights there.

They were alleged to have beaten the youths: three males and a female with horsewhip before dragging them out of the hotel when they claimed they were not with cash.


They allegedly forced the youths to use the hotel’s POS to withdraw N15,000, out of the N18,000 owed. But the self-acclaimed Military men were alleged to have collected their phones, laptop and other phones from the youths, in place of the balance of N3,000.


However, the bubble burst after Obiajuru visited a friend’s welcome party in Shasha, two weeks ago, where he was confronted by the youths who identified him and descended on him.

He was at the verge of being lynched when policemen from Shasha division arrived the scene and whisked him to the station.


During the preliminary investigation, he was discovered not to be a Military man after all. Further investigation revealed that the two soldiers he usually went out with had long been dismissed from the Force.


In this interview, Obiajuru who claimed to be the Coordinator of  Harry Foundation, a charity organization in Shasha, denied masquerading as an Army Colonel. Rather, he said people only called him Colonel because some members of his family were in the Military.

According to him: ” I am not a Colonel and the soldiers in question were not my orderlies. They(soldiers) brought a car to me in February this year that they wanted to sell.


I contacted one of my aunties, who said I should bring the car, a Lexus for her to see. I took the car to her in the company of the soldiers.  But she said it was too small that she needed an SUV.


“On our way back I got a call from a friend who said his sister, owner of New Moon hotel was in distress. When we got there, we discovered that some lodgers refused to pay her for the four nights.


“The soldiers banged on the door of the room they were but the youths refused to open until the soldiers announced that they were there with their boss, a Colonel.


When they opened the door, the soldiers flogged them with a horsewhip.  They could only pay N15,000 through the hotel’s POS while one of the soldiers paid the balance of N3000. In return,  they collected the items from the youths and drove off.


While there, I received a call from the friend that earlier called me to go and save his sister. He instructed me to refund all the items to the boys that they had gone to the hotel to make trouble.


Immediately, I drove to where they were but they only gave me a laptop and went with the rest items.


But the boys kept mounting pressure on the owner of the hotel, thereby forcing me to go look for the soldiers at  Ojo barracks in order to collect the seized items from them but I was told they were not there. It was when I got to Badagry barracks that the Commander told me that the soldiers had been dismissed from the Force.


” When the pressure to return the seized item became unbearable, I was asked to pay N300,000, estimated on the seized items.  By March 2018, I paid 150,000 out of amount and I was given up till  July to pay the balance.


But I traveled to the village and returned at the end of August. To my shock, the boys called cultists to descend on me when I attended a friend’ s welcome party”.


Asked where he got the pump action rifle, he said a friend gave it to him. Also asked how he came about the Military camouflage caps and the horse while he said that the soldiers left it inside a bag they forgot during her last meeting.


On the UN plate cover permit, he claimed he got it during a seven-year voluntary peacekeeping mission, as an observer.


It was gathered that the suspect who was transferred from Shasha division to the Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad, Lagos State Command, had been charged to court.