NSCDC intercepts 70 northerners in Oyo as FCT arrests 68 persons

Ugwuanyi seizes 15 men hidden in cattle truck
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) intercepted 70 northerners in Ogbomoso, Oyo State yesterday.

Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, disclosed this while speaking on a television programme, saying their arrest came less than 24 hours after the state government vowed to check influx of foreigners from other states.

This is coming in spite of warning that non-residents should not enter the state due to the coronavirus pandemic.

He also said the travelers, who were to be dropped in batches in Ibadan, Sagamu and Lagos were from Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara states and were currently being held by the area commander of NSCDC in Ogbomoso, awaiting directive before they could be led to the borders.

Besides, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Ministerial Team on the enforcement of COVID-19 Movement restrictions has arrested 68 persons traveling from various parts of the country.

The arrested persons were hidden in two Dangote trucks and another truck conveying fertilisers from Edo State, but luck had ran out on them around Zuba area when the team insisted on checking the trucks.

They were consequently arraigned before Magistrate Ebiwari Damini at the Zuba Mobile Court, while the Dangote truck driver, Abdul Sani and the fertiliser truck driver, Mukhtar Usman, were convicted

The Presiding Magistrate ruled that those who were going back to Zaria having been turned back at the entry of Edo State should return to their original place of departure, even as he fined them N5, 000 each.

Meanwhile, Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, intercepted a trailer load of cattle with 15 men hidden on the floor of the vehicle along Emene Road, Enugu.

The trailer, said to be coming from Bauchi State had beaten all security checkpoints on the highways and made its way into the state around 9.30pm with the men carrying different sizes of bags.

They were, however, intercepted by Governor Ugwuanyi, who had defied the heavy rains as he led a team to enforce President Muhammdu Buhari’s dusk-to-dawn curfew across the country.

The team discovered the 15 men hidden on the floor of the vehicle during a search on the trailer, which was intercepted.

Shocked by the development, Uwuanyi who had ordered that their capture, expressed concern on how such a number of people found their way into the state under the pretense of transporting cattle.