By Sam Kayode
In what looks like an intergovernmental feud, the Federal government owned Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has denied that its train coaches were about being stolen from Maiduguri.
Managing Director of the NRC, Fidet Okhiria said, over the weekend that there was no such claim as train coach theft as alleged by the police in Borno.
Okhiria explained that the people sent to pick up the Coaches were doing so on behalf of his organization and not “stealing” the coaches as is believed by some quarters in Borno.
The MD revealed that there was a directive by officials of the NRC to move the coaches to the Corporation’s “Running Shed” in Jos, Plateau State, to be overhauled and put back into operation.
In a release made available to newsmen the NRC noted that the attention of the NRC has been drawn to trending reports on numerous social media platforms claiming that “an attempt was made to steal our coaches from Maiduguri.”
The release noted that the NRC management wishes to clarify this “erroneous report” by stating that the said coaches were being moved to the NRC Running Shed in Jos, Plateau State, to be overhauled and put back into operation and not stolen as alleged by the Borno State government.
Reactions from Borno State
Meanwhile, the Borno State Police Command yesterday said it averted the theft of some train coaches at the Maiduguri Railway Terminus.
The Command said its detectives acting on a tip-off by some Good Samaritans in the area, apprehended the suspects while loading the coaches into a trailer.
Spokesman for the Borno police command, Shatambaya Kamilu, confirmed the incident to newsmen, adding that six suspects was already in their custody pending further investigations.
Borno Govt addresses media
Following the arrest of the trailer drivers the Borno State government said it has added its weight to the protest by residents of Goidamgari and Railway Terminus general area of the metropolis over the attempts to move the coaches out of the state without anyone’s notice.
Drama actually ensured when some truck owners at the week end stormed the Railway Station and loaded quite a number of coaches on their trucks, before the Police arrested six persons, deflated the tyres of the trucks.
This is even as the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC admitted that it had actually received an official communication regarding evacuation of the coaches, but were surprised that the police were not carried along.
Addressing hundreds of residents who stormed the station on Sunday morning with different placards; such as ‘We want our Railway coaches back, No to evacuation of Railway facilities from Maiduguri’, Governor Zulum represented by his Deputy, Umar Kadafur informed the protesters that Government under his watch will not allow any Railway facilities to be evacuated out of the state, instead, it would work to revive the Railway services for effective transportation and development.
“We are here to identify with your concern as law abiding citizens. We want to assure you that Borno State Government will not allow any of the Railway facilities to move an inch out of Maiduguri Station.
“Borno is the only state in the federation that borders three different countries of Niger, Chad and Cameroun, and so, Railway services is key to enhance trans -Saharan trade.
” Therefore apart from halting the evacuation of these coaches, Borno State Government will ensure that other coaches that were evacuated in one way or the other are returned back to Maiduguri.” noted Kadafur.
He however appealed to the agitating crowd to be calm, law-abiding and peaceful, as Government will take decisive actions to halt evacuation of Railway facilities henceforth.
Earlier in their speeches, Village Head of Goidamgari/Railway general area, Lawan Bukar Gaje and the youth leader, Mallam Abubakar expressed displeasure on the incident, stressing that Borno state which has suffered devastation for over a decade due to Boko Haram crisis needs Government intervention in reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement including revamping of the Railway services, and not for the federal government to embark on evacuation of its facilities.
