CITY NEWS Task force members accused of looting at Giri demolition site Security guard bags 5 months jail term for negligence
Driver dies as bus runs into truck at Abaji
Officers of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps on the FCT Ministerial Task Force team have been accused of looting belongings of people when the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council and the Department of Development Control were at Giri, Gwagwalada, for a demolition exercise.
The officers were on the team that was to demolish shanties along the roadside from Iddo down to Giri.
City News gathered that some staff on the ministerial task team had informed members of Giri community about the demolition exercise. He said on getting there, the taskforce found that the people had already begun removing their belongs and even dismantling their structures ahead of the FCTA demolition team’s arrival.
It was learnt that the NSCDC officials who were already at the community collected money from the residents with the promise that their shanties would not be demolished. A luxurious bus driver whose name was yet to be known has died, while his conductor sustained injuries when the vehicle rammed into a moving truck at Manderegi village, on the Abuja-Lokoja road.
A witness said the incident happened on Tuesday at about 2:53a.m, when the bus with registration number NHS 931 YY coming from Lokoja axis hit a MAN Diesel truck with registration number XJ 494 KDS from behind.
He said the bus driver was trapped by the steering wheel, while the conductor
A woman in the community was seen weeping as she complained to the Captain of the Nigerian Army who was leading the team, saying that the NSCDC officers seized her two 30 litre jerry cans of petrol which, she said, they took to their van.
The captain, who intervened in the matter, rescued the woman from being harassed by the officers who got angry with her for reporting them.
He ordered everybody to get into their vehicles and leave the community so sustained injuries, adding that officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) came to the scene to convey the driver’s corpse to the hospital along with the conductor.
“But members of the FRSC rescue team had to remain at the scene till morning to remove the bus from the highway in order to avoid other vehicles crashing into it,” he said.
When contacted, the Abaji unit commander of the FRSC, ACC Olasupo Esuruoso, confirmed the accident, which he attributed to speed limit violation and loss of control.
He said the driver’s corpse had been that the situation would be reported to the appropriate authorities and the culprits dealt with.
While speaking on the situation, AMMC coordinator, Umar Shuaibu, said when the case was reported to him, he called the commandant of the NSCDC to immediately fish out the culprits so they can face the law.
“These are the people tarnishing the image of the FCT Administration by extorting and exploiting people whenever they go out on assignment,” he said. deposited at Abaji General Hospital morgue, while the injured conductor was receiving treatment at the same hospital.
He said seven people were also injured in another accident which occurred on the same day at Dangara junction, along the same road.
He said the accident happened around 8:00p.m. after a Volkswagen Sharon with registration number AKW 637 XA lost control and crashed into a ditch.
He attributed the accident to speed limit violation and loss of control, saying the seven injured passengers were taken to Abaji General Hospital for attention. A Karmo Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, has sentenced a 33-year-old security guard, Bent Kantapwa, to five months imprisonment for negligent conduct.
Kantapwa, who resides at No. 9, Ali Baba Crescent, Jabi, Abuja, was convicted after he pleaded guilty to a count charge of negligent conduct on Tuesday.
The Judge, Mr Abubakar Sadiq, however, gave Kantapwa an option to pay N20,000 fine.
Sadiq said the punishment would have been stiffer if the convict had not saved the court the pains of protracted prosecution, by pleading guilty.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Mrs Florence Auhioboh, had told the court that one Shehu Murtala of Flat 5, Block D, Nigeria Security, Printing and Minting Quarters, Garki, Abuja, reported the matter at the Utako Police Station.
Auhioboh informed the court that the convict was employed to work as a security guard and to secure the MTN mast at No. 9 Ali Baba Crescent, Jabi, Abuja.
She said the convict was not at his duty post when the batteries were stolen, noting that “he deliberately neglected his duty post, thereby paving way for thieves to have access to the property.”
The prosecutor said four MTN mast back-up batteries were stolen from the said mast station.
She added that during police investigation, the convict confessed to the crime, but could not give satisfactory account of the missing batteries, an offence which contravened Section 196 of the Penal Code Law.
NAN reports that the convict appealed to the court for leniency, saying “I am pleading with the court and the company to have mercy on me. (NAN)