By: Gbenga Akingbule.
Members of associations of truck drivers and owners in Borno State on Thursday demanded the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to release its 21 drivers and vehicles without further delay.
Gatekeepers News reports that the EFCC had on Monday at different locations within the state intercepted truckloads of alleged food items billed for export to other neighbouring countries.
At a Press Conference held at the Nigeria Union Of Journalists Complex in Maiduguri the Borno State capital, members of the association faulted the EFCC claims and stated their vehicles seized were only conveying building materials and not food items as claimed.
The spokesman of the group, Alhaji Bako Liman stated that its members are law-abiding citizens and would not have contravened the law by conveying contraband items.
“Most of the goods on our seized vehicles by the EFCC are building materials like Dangote Cement iron rods amongst others, ” adding that “we’re not smugglers, most of the seized trucks were open and not closed because we don’t have anything to hide,” Liman said.
Liman added: “We want the EFCC to immediately release all our 21 drivers and 21 trucks, pick up vehicles and buses back to us so we can continue our business peacefully.
Liman who decried the negative impact the seizure is already causing members of their families stated that his group will not embark on protests that may affect the fragile security situation in the state but will follow legal means to free the members and vehicles.
“We’re already talking to our lawyers and we hope that we will get justice at the end of the day,” Liman said.
Meanwhile, the Maiduguri Zonal Command of the EFCC had in a Press Release revealed that it arrested 21 trucks loaded with food and non-food items heading towards N’djamena, Chad Republic, Central African Republic and Cameroon.
“Investigation showed food items cleverly concealed in the trucks that would have gone undetected, but for the eagle-eyed vigilance of operatives of the Commission.
“Further checks showed that the Waybills covering the goods carried by trucks indicated their destinations as N’djamena, Chad Republic, Central Africa Republic and Cameroon respectively.
“The arrest of the trucks is expected to stem the tide of food insecurity occasioned by unscrupulous antics of smugglers across the country,” Dele Oyewale, Head of Media And Publicity of the EFCC said.
