By Ebube Dike

The soldiers who brutalised Shooting Stars FC player, Ebenezer Odeyemi on Tuesday have tendered their apology to the player and management of the club stating that their action was not “intentional”, www.bestchoicesports.com.ng can report.

“Following the assault on some players of Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) of Ibadan, by some soldiers, the military officers involved have apologised to the players and the management of the Oluyole Warriors over the unfortunate incident.

The quartet of Ebenezer Odeyemi, Sochima Elum, Chimamkpa Onwubuche and Adekunle Adeniyi were on Tuesday night, assaulted by some soldiers while eating at a cafeteria near the club’s’s camp at Idishin, Jericho, Ibadan.

While the trio of Sochima, Chimamkpa and Adeniyi luckily escaped, the military officers, went hard on Odeyemi, who was unable to escape, having fell down while trying to run away like his colleagues,” the club announced on Wednesday night

On getting wind of the incident, the management of the Ibadan soccer lords took up the matter to officially make a report and also find put what led to the assault.

“When the ugly incident got to our notice, we took the lawful step to find out what really transpired between the soldiers in question and some of our players, in which one of them (Ebenezer Odeyemi) was beaten up.

In response, the soldiers) gave their own side of the story, explaining what happened and then tendered their aplologies over the incident, which they said was not deliberate.

The soldiers involved said they were on patrol, having being drafted to the area as a security measures to put under the check the activities of some notorious gangs who have been terrorising residents of the area for some time.

The residents had arranged for the soldiers to beef up security in the area and it was during one of their routine checks that led to the incident.

While patrolling, the military men saw the four players and having initially passed, they decided to turn back, to find out who they were and what their mission at that spot was.

On seeing them heading towards their direction, the players, out of fear, took to their heels, thus giving the soldiers impression that they (the players) were up to something.

While three others succeded in running away, Odeyemi was not that lucky as the soldiers caught him and pounced on him, suspecring that he and his fleeing colleagues were part of those wrecking havoc in the are, not knowing that they were footballers..

Ebenezer Odeyemi popularly called “Lukaku” had explained his own 0artb9fbthe incident prior to the apologies from the soldiers.

“We just left the training session around 6pm and we decided to take dinner at a nearby food canteen. As a law abiding citizen, we actually saw them about a mile away from our seats but we believe they are on their normal duties. So, we decided to continue with our discussions while eating.”

“They came to us with an attempt to beat, my colleagues had to escape and while I was about to manage my way out of them, I fell down and they came to me for serious beaten. I told them I’m a professional footballer with a state club (Shooting Stars) but they never listened, I was beaten and they left with my phone.

“We later decided to inform a retired military man at the estate within the club camp for assistance. We both located thier base and they gave no meaningful reasons for their actions, they apologized and returned my phone but my brother, I was beaten. The wife of the retired soldier gave me first aid treatment after we had returned to the estate but it was a sad incident of me.”

This is not the first time the security agents are confronting Nigeria professional footballers. Tiyamiyu Kazeem, assistant captain of Remo Stars FC better known as ‘Kaka’, was allegedly killed in Ogun state by an officer of the dreaded but now disbanded Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) in the state.