File photo of a soldier during an operation in the north-east
Troops of Forward Operations Base (FOB) in Yobe have reportedly arrested a 43-year-old man with 19 seed planting machines.
The seed planters were recently distributed by the Yobe state government to farmers for free under its Agriculture Empowerment Programme (AEP).
NAN reports that Mai Mala Buni, governor of Yobe, had directed security operatives to arrest anyone found moving the equipment out of the state.
Dahiru Abdulsalam, special adviser on security to the governor, relayed the arrest in a statement.
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He said the suspect was arrested with the equipment concealed in a bus on the Potiskum-Gombe road.
“Today, at about 00:10AM, troops of FOB Potiskum arrested a man in possession of 19 seed planters,” the statement reads.
“The items which are suspected to have been issued for the Yobe State Agricultural Empowerment Programme, were concealed in a blue coloured 18-seater bus with Registration No: KTG 449 YG.”
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He added that the suspect could not prove that he was a beneficiary of the programme.
“The owner of the items had no letter of authority for issue of the items to him or anyone else,” he said.
“The suspect who hails from Jigawa State claimed that he bought the items from one Alhaji Babaji with phone number 08032837370 in Damaturu at the rate of N50,000.00 each.
“He stated that he was conveying the items to resell in Dutse, Jigawa.”
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Abdulsalam said the suspect and the recovered items would be handed to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
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