A skilled labourer in Chikum, Kaduna State, has accused Shaida Tisain, a Nigerian soldier at the Kachia Barracks, of refusing to return four sets of scaffolds he rented out to him in June 2023.

The labourer, who asked to be anonymous, also accused Tisain of refusing to pay the daily fees that had been accrued since he got a hold of the scaffolds.

The labourer told FIJ that the soldier, his neighbour, approached him last June for four sets of scaffolds, which he leased out. He said he even helped him with a driver who transported the equipment to Kachia Barracks.

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The source said Tisain paid N80,000 for using the equipment for 13 days at the rate of N1,500 per set but would not return them at the expiration of the paid-for period.

“After the period had elapsed, he told me that he did not use the rented scaffold for any reason. I then asked him to return the sets, but he has not done so,” the labourer told FIJ.

According to this labourer, the actual owner of the sets has repeatedly asked him to provide their equipment because they need to rent them to other people to raise money, but the soldier has failed to listen to his plea.

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“Even worse is that he would hardly take my calls or respond to my texts. I told him not to worry about the transportation because I was willing to get it. But he is unwilling to return them,” he said.

“I have asked a friend to call at the soldier’s place and a driver to go to the Kachia Barracks at a different time to retrieve the scaffolds, but he would not release them. During the Christmas period, I saw him and pleaded with him to return the equipment, and he said he gave me his word that he would return it the following week, but he never did.

“Once, he picked up my call and said he would pay me for a week, despite withholding the equipment for over eight months. I need the equipment back. He’s been acting this way because he’s a soldier.”

When FIJ called Tisain, he admitted that he had been with the four sets of scaffolds since last June and would return them in two weeks. He then said he would pay for only a week because, since June, he had not used them.