The Special Adviser to the Governor of Nasarawa State on Infrastructure, Yusuf Musa, has been arrested alongside some policemen over alleged vandalisation of railway tracks.
Penpushing reports that the Nasarawa State Police Commissioner, Bola Longe, made this known while parading the Special Adviser and other suspects at the Force Headquarters in Lafia,adding that the suspects were nabbed following the intelligence information received by the command
The Commissioner said the suspects have “turned the Nigerian railway tracks that traverse some major cities and villages in Nasarawa State en route to Benue state to gold mines where they vandalise and cart away rail tracks.”
“Consequently, the State Police Command developed a strategic anti-vandalism template to arrest the tide of this unwholesome scenario. It is gratifying to note however, that, this template paid off on 16/5/2021 at about 0130hrs and 24/5/2021’
‘At about 0300hrs respectively when police operatives swooped on the vandals at their theatre of operation while vandalising and carting away railway tracks/slippers along Agyaragu Tofa in Lafia LGA and Angwan Alago of Kadarko district in Keana LGA.”
Penpushing further reports that, Longe stated that Richard Joseph, an inspector of police; Mali Peter, a sergeant; Ibrahim Usman, an official of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps; and three others were arrested at the crime scenes.
The police boss disclosed that following an extensive investigation into the case, the Governor’s aide was arrested alongside other suspects which include police officers as well as an official of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and three others.
Penpushing also reports that,others arrested include Mohammed Isiaka, a former supervisory councillor on education, Nasarawa Eggon local government area; Marra Thai, a Chinese national and the Manager of Yong Xing Steel Company, Tunga Maje, Federal Capital Territory(FCT) Abuja, and Samuel Shagbaor, a staff of the Nigerian Railway Corporation.
The police commissioner disclosed that one Abubakar Nuhu offered N160,000.00 bribe to secure the release of a trailer conveying the vandalised tracks,adding that one Nathaniel Oba, the legal adviser to Yong Xing Steel Company Nigeria Limited, offered N600,000 to bribe the investigating team of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit to secure the release of his client.
Penpushing reports that, the police boss added that exhibits found with them include a Falker Mercedes Benz Truck with registration number LFA 636 ZX loaded with vandalised rail tracks/slippers, a DAF trailer loaded with vandalised rail tracks/slippers, the sum of N160,000 offered as bribe to secure the release of the vehicle, two white Peugeot J5 buses have been recovered from the suspects.
“It needs to be emphasised here that, preliminary investigation into these cases so far, have revealed that, it is a grand conspiracy involving high net worth individuals who act as sponsors and drivers of various syndicates which specialise in vandalising Nigerian railway tracks/slippers in different parts of Nasarawa State notably: Gudi-Lafia-Akeleku-Makurdi railway line.”
“This is a classic case of sabotage being perpetrated by unpatriotic Nigerians including some personnel of security agencies who are employed by the Nigerian state to protect lives and property. This criminal circus is sustained and kept alive by companies who process steel/iron scraps and mostly owned by foreign nationals who make wrongful gains at the expense of the national interest,” he said.
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