The police have intercepted a truck full of arms and ammunition at the Jabi Motor Park in Abuja. It is believed that the large cache of arms belongs to a faction of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) at the park, where there has been crisis for the past one month, THISDAY gathered.
Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command, Moshood Jimoh, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the incident.
Not less than 36 people have been arrested and detained by the police. Jimoh said some of those arrested had been released on bail, while others had been remanded in custody.
An eyewitness told THISDAY that the truck was impounded around 10pm on Monday.
There are allegations that the truck is linked to a popular Ibadan NURTW leader, who has been having a running battle with the police and Oyo State Governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala.
It is believed that the union leader is in support of the ousted Jabi Park NURTW leader, Tope Olokpe, who is already in police net.
A police officer, who craved anonymity, said the police received a tip-off about the truck. He said the truck was laden with guns and ammunition, machetes and charms.
Addressing journalists yesterday at the motor park, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in charge of Operations, FCT Command, Mr. Wilson Inalegwu, said the police would ensure sanity in the park.
Inalegwu said the command had posted an additional unit of riot policemen supported by Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), which had been permanently stationed in front of the garage. He promised that the command would conduct a thorough investigation into the source of the arms and ammunition and also on the criminal acts.
“Through intelligence report, we found out that some of these union members are armed with dangerous weapons. We came all out to verify by ourselves and these are the weapons we found. We will ensure there is peace and tranquillity in the place and that is why we are posting a unit of mobile policemen,” he said._
Inalegwu said the police do not have authority to remove or relocate the park.
Tension and fighting had continued unabated in at the Jabi Park and other adjoining parks in the FCT as a result of the leadership crisis rocking the body. The crisis intensified on Saturday morning when the newly constituted Gaaji faction had a running battle with the Olokpe faction, wherein machetes were freely used, leading to many sustaining injuries, while a union member was reported dead.
To curb the in-fighting, the National President of NURTW was said to have nominated one Mr. Gaaji from Area 1 Park to act as the union chairman in the interim.
THISDAY gathered that Omolope was accused of collecting N30,000 daily for his “three square meals” and that at the end of each day’s job, goes home with nothing less than N50,000.
He was also accused of imposing some fees that could not be accounted for.
Armed with these complaints, some of the union members decided to confront him with the allegations. But when this could not solve the problem, they resorted to physical confrontation. Union members and passersby were injured in the melee while several vehicles were burnt.
Omolope was said to have been arrested by the police but later released on bail, when there was no evidence of criminal act against him.
Aug262009