Meanwhile, on his arrival at the nation's capital, some officials of National Youth Service Corps alongside some soldiers confronted and harassed him, forcing him to stop a live streaming of his trek, as they also seized his mobile phone.
A corps member, Abel Tardoo Nathaniel, who embarked on a trek from Ore Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State to deliver a message to President Bola Tinubu has arrived in Abuja after which he was manhandled and arrested by some Nigerian Army personnel on the alleged orders of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
SaharaReporters learnt that the corps member commenced the journey on Friday, December 15, 2023 and arrived in Abuja on Monday January 8, wielding a placard and the National flag.
Meanwhile, on his arrival at the nation's capital, some officials of National Youth Service Corps alongside some soldiers confronted and harassed him, forcing him to stop a live streaming of his trek, as they also seized his mobile phone.
Investigation revealed that the soldiers ambushed him along Dutse Expressway near Kubwa, where he was also picked up.
In the live stream video obtained by SaharaReporters, a soldier was seen harassing and dragging the corps member in an attempt to forcefully collect his mobile phone and the national flag and stop him from staying online.
Nathaniel could be heard saying “I just want to pass a message, except you want to take me with force. So let me complete what I started.”
While responding to a question asked by one of the officials if he informed the NYSC about his trek, Nathaniel said nobody was aware of his plan, including the media.
“Nobody is even aware; including the media and that is why I am doing this just to pass a message. Let me just go there and let the President tell me he doesn't want to hear from me and I will go back. You are telling them to come and carry me with force and you know I am already on a live stream. Oga you want to use force? Oga you want to spoil my phone. People are watching you,” he protested.
SaharaReporters could not yet verify the mission of the corps member who planned to trek to the Aso Rock Villa to visit President Tinubu, but he was eventually forced into the vehicle after they dispossessed him of his phone, placards and flag and whisked to the NYSC Headquarters located in Maitama.
Nathaniel had insisted that the decision to trek to Abuja was an adventure for him and also to make history.
SaharaReporters gathered that the NYSC management was not comfortable with Nathaniel meeting with the president as he also refused to disclose the message he wanted to deliver to the President.
Meanwhile as at time of filing this report Nathaniel's whereabouts is still unknown since he was taken into custody by the NYSC officials.
Recall that Nathaniel had written on his Facebook page shortly after he had embarked on the journey.
He wrote, “𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒈u𝒏 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒊𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔, 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕, 𝒊'𝒎 𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒌𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒚, 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆 , 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔, 𝒇𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄 𝒐𝒇 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂 Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu 𝒔𝒐 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕
“ 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒈𝒃𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒈𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒂 𝒐𝒇 𝑶𝒏𝒅𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕... 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒆...𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚”#fearlesscorp
Effort by SaharaReporters to reach the Director of Press, Eddy Megwa, for reaction proved abortive as repeated calls to his mobile phones were not answered.