•7 Vandals arrested
By Stanley Onyekwere
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has decried the incessant acts of vandalism and encroachment of Abuja Rail Mass Transit rail’s protective fences, tracks and communication cables.
However, the FCTA vowed that the full weight of the law will be visited on the perpetrators, so as to discourage others from acting against the interest of the government and people in the Territory.
Making this assertion, yesterday, Arch. Uboku Tom Nyah, Secretary, FCT Transportation Secretariat, declared that it is sad and very condemnable that some of the people that the government is working for are those causing such level of vandalism on the critical infrastructure, as the perpetrators didn’t come from outer space.
Nyah, who led some top management staff of the Secretariat on inspection tour to a section of the rail tracks where an unidentified estate developer allegedly encroached and pulled down rail protective perimeter fences in Kukwaba District, noted that what it means is that the government have to spend double, and delay the project conclusion.
He recalled that over the past few days, the FCT Minister, Barr. Nyesom has been emphasising the importance of efficient transportation particularly the rail transportation, in line with the vision of the renewed hope agenda of the President, in providing cheap and safe transportation for the people in the Territory.
He said: “We had expected that within the year that the rail services will start. But, when we came here and see that even the cables and the protective fences have been vandalised by our people, it is something that takes us back, and it is criminal for anybody to do this. That is why the Minister of FCT and government of FCT doesn’t take it lightly, as the full weight of the law will be visited on the people.
“And we in the FCT are against this kind of action, and we will continue to crush and visit heavy sanctions on the people that are doing this. So far, there are about seven (7) that have been arrested.”
On the mandate of Mr. President to ride in the Abuja rail, the Secretary said: “The president will still ride on Metro rail within due time, the only thing it does is that it calls us to greater work, with some level of additional expenditure, because we still have to deliver the quality that we had envisioned originally. No matter what is vandalised, we have to replace them, so that brings additional cost.
“With very scarce resources available to us, we still have to go back on what have be placed, to fund again, but for the timely availability of the rail service and for the President to ride on it, we are very excited and we are waiting for a day that this will be achieved. It is our mandate and we are pleased that we are going to deliver on the mandate, so we must deliver transportation for our people in the FCT that is cheap, safe and we are working on a system for improved security.”
Earlier, General Supervisor, SEGAD Security Company LTD, Japhet MaiKeffi, one of the two security service providers guarding the rail facility, revealed that its personnel used one the arrested suspect’s phone to track others to their residences in a Baba-bola (scavengers) settlement at Gwagwa, where they were all arrested and taken into custody.
According to him: “Day before yesterday, we went out for general patrol, so around 2:10 am, we saw four young people (suspects) digging the rail tracks, to remove the armoured cables inside the bush, immediately we parked, and flashed torchlight, and immediately they noticed us, they started running, we begun chasing them.
“And we laid ambushed inside the bush while waiting for them, till about 5:05 Am, then one of them was seen coming out with a shovel on his hand, that was when we immediately arrested him.
On his part, one of the suspects who gave his name as Salisu Ibrahim, and spoke in hausa narrated that: “On our way to work (cable vandalism) in the middle of the night, we sighted a torch light from a far and we guessed it must be coming from the security personnel assigned to guard the rail way facilities. I’m actually a motor mechanic, but had to switch into vandalism due to its lucrativeness and lack of job.
“As we attempted approaching them to clear ourselves, suddenly a vehicle started chasing us and in our confused state, we took to our heels to escape from the security men.
“We thought everything was over the next morning and decided to resume from where we stopped the previous night, but unfortunately we walked into their ambush and I was apprehended.
“Our work is to vandalise, steal the cables and sell and this is the fourth time I’ve been involved the activity.”
