Sani Wilson Enemona
As a response to calls by governments at all levels to citizens to participate in securing the country, members of the Sokoto state chapter of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) have intercepted a Toyota Corolla saloon car with registration number Ogun DED 612 AA suspected to be on a supply mission to bandits in Zamfara forests.
Sokoto Deputy Chairperson as well Zonal Vice Chairperson East of the National Youth Council of Nigeria and one patriotic youth identified as Basiru Isa Thursday night, intercepted a vehicle laden with petrol, raosated chickens, cigarettes and other items on its way to Gaftu, a village in Gummi Local Government of Zamfara state .
The owner of the petrol who identified himself as Abubakar Gaftu, disclosed that he was transporting the petrol to Gaftu.
According to the NYCN Deputy Chairman whose team intercepted the vehicle: “while leaving Kajiji, a village in Shagari Local Government in Sokoto state, at about 10 o’clock Thursday night, we came across a car we noticed was overloaded with Jerry cans.
“We immediately stopped the vehicle and were able to find roasted chickens, bathing soap, Vaseline and Packs of Aspen cigarettes apart from the said 30 jerry cans of petrol.
“We immediately demanded that the car follow us to Sokoto city and on our way we came across a SAFER HIGHER WAY TEAM. We reported the case to them and instantly the team reported the case to the state CID where they got the approval to escort us Sokoto where we handed over the case to one DSP in the state CID for further investigations.
Daily Star Nigeria contacted the Police Public Relations Officer, Sanusi Abubakar, for confirmation and clarification who said he would confirm and get back to us but was not able to do that up to the time of filing in this report.
A police source confirmed the incident to Daily Star Nigeria but refused to make any further comments “since investigation [on the matter] is on”.
When contacted, the Sokoto command Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, Hamza Adamu Illelah, said he was not aware of the particular case but “will find out from concerned authorities.”
When asked why the NSCDC was not aware of the case, Illela said that “since arrest has already been made by the police, they may not be under any obligation to share the information with us because we also have our own cases to handle, but that does not mean we don’t work hand-in-hand with them to secure the nation.