COVID-19: NSCDC arrests three Oyo officials for ‘stealing’ palliatives
Men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Oyo State Command, have arrested three officials of the Oyo State Road Traffic Management Agency for alleged stealing 70 bags of maize meant for distribution as COVID-19 palliatives.
The Commandant of the NSCDC in the state, Iskilu Akinsanya, made the disclosure while parading the suspects on Thursday at the Command’s headquarter, Agodi, Ibadan.
According to Akinsanya, the suspects were arrested on Wednesday at about 9pm at the Oyo State Secretariat, Agodi, while trying to load the stolen items.
The Commandant said the NSCDC intelligence had it that some people were in the habit of breaking into government warehouses to loot items.
He said, “Our efforts yielded result yesterday (Wednesday) around 21:00hours. The suspects were arrested while loading the items that is meant for the people in the state as palliatives.
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“This has been happening for a long time and we have been trying to pin them down. We were able to arrest them yesterday. This is what we have been talking about; government meant well for the society but there are some unscrupulous people that want to truncate government’s efforts.”
Akinsanya said the NSCDC in the state had resolved to flush out criminally minded elements out of the society and would not allow bad attitude to continue to happen.
He assured the people of Oyo State of adequate security and urged them to continue to volunteer useful information that could assist the service in tracking criminals in the society. The Commandant said investigation still continues on the matter and that the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigation was completed.
Meanwhile, one of the suspects, who is an OTRMA official (name not given), said that an official of the State Emergency Management Agency in charge of the palliatives gave the items to them as an assistance. He admitted that it was not the first time that they had been given.
The suspects said that they were arrested as they were unable to provide tangible information on how they got the items.
Also, a 56-year-old driver and father of four, said he was not aware that the items were stolen and only acted in line with the directives given by the officer who asked him to come and help them carry the items.
“The officer was one of those on the patrol team that I usually meet on the road. I obeyed him when he called me,” the driver said.
