The Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) has denied reports that some criminals attempted to steal railway coaches in Maiduguri, Borno State.
This disclosure is contained in a press statement issued by the Managing Director of the NRC, Mr Fidet Okhiria, on Saturday, October 14, 2023, in Lagos.
Okhiria in the statement described the report as erroneous, adding that the coaches were being officially moved to NRC in Jos for overhauling and put them back to operation.
What the NRC MD is saying
The statement from Okhiria reads,
- “The attention of the Nigeria Railway Corporation has been drawn to a news trending on numerous social media platforms purported to have emanated from Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), in which it was reported that attempt was made to steal NRC coaches from Maiduguri.
- “NRC management wishes to clarify this erroneous reportage by stating that the said coaches are officially being moved to NRC running shed in Jos, Plateau to be overhauled with the view of putting them back to operation. NRC is trying to extend Rail Mass Transit all over the country.’’
Controversy
NTA had earlier reported that the police command in Borno State had arrested 6 suspects over an attempt to steal 3 train coaches at the Maiduguri railway terminus.
It stated that Lawan Yusuf, the Borno commissioner of police, said suspects were arrested on Saturday after a distress call about the attempted theft of the train coaches.
Yusuf said one Aliyu Mai Nasara, the principal suspect, was accosted while coordinating the loading of three coaches into trucks.
According NTA, Yusuf said,
- “There was a distress call received from railway quarters. Loader trailers were sighted at the railway terminus in Maiduguri evacuating and loading properties belonging to NRC.
- “The properties include; three coaches. On the receipt of that information, the divisional police officer mobilised his men behind railway quarters.
- “One Aliyu Mai Nasara was arrested. Mai Nasara claimed that he is the director of the north-east district headquartered in Bauchi and that he was assigned by the MD of the Nigerian railway corporation to come and evacuate coaches to Plateau State, where according to him, the railway corporation wanted to hand it over to plateau state government, to initiate intra railway transport within Jos metropolis.
- “But the suspect has no identity to certify his claim that he’s actually the district manager of the northeast district Bauchi.”