Senator representing Kano north in the National Assembly,
Jibrin Barau, has denied the allegation that the Nigerian Customs Service
(NCS), seized 13 vehicles from his residence.
Zonal commander of customs task force, Bala Dole, had said
the vehicles were trailed from Maigatari in Jigawa, following an intelligence
report.
According to Dole,“Based on the intelligence report, the
vehicles were 30 in number but we were able to trail 13 of them 12 of which
were hidden in the senator’s compound,” said Dole who refuse to disclose the
identity of the senator.
“We sealed the house and retrieved the vehicles and they are
now in our custody.”
But speaking on the floor of the Senate, on Tuesday, Barau
said the said the seizure of the vehicles never happened, and appealed to his
colleagues to wade into the matter.
In the words of Barau, “I received a text message from a
reporter, through the text message he explained that I needed to call him
because there was an urgent matter. I did not spend up to a minute before
calling him,” he said.
“I called thrice, but he refused to pick my call, so I
called another reporter attached to national assembly, he also did not pick my
call.
“When I woke up this morning I saw the headline that 13
Hillux vehicles, of which duty has not been paid were found in my residence,
and that my house was sealed. This never happened.
“I was with my constituents, we were all in my house, and no
Hillux vehicle was in my house. This is terrible; this is bad for democracy.
“My privilege has been abused, and I feel very sad. I really
cannot phantom why this should happen when we need to put our heads together.
We are in a time of recession.
“We need everyone to come on board, the executive, the
legislative and judiciary – even the fourth estate of the realm, so that we can
find solution to the problem we find ourselves.
“I’m wondering why this is coming at this time. This is very
sad and I call on the senate to wade into this matter through the ethics and
privileges committee.”
Senate President Bukola Saraki subsequently referred the
matter to the committee on ethics and privileges.
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