By David Olalekan.
The Jigawa State Governor, Muhammad Badaru Abubakar has reacted to the arrest of 123 Jigawa indigenes by the Lagos State Government.
INSIDER had earlier reported that the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences, on Friday, intercepted a trailer conveying no fewer than 123 northerners from Jigawa State and 48 motorcycles at the Agege area of Lagos, after security alert from the public.
The Chairman, Lagos State Taskforce, Yinka Egbeyemi, disclosed to newsmen that his team acted on a tip-off from the public that some individuals had entered into Lagos in a trailer loaded with over 300 people.
He added that most of the occupants who were interrogated claimed ownership of the motorcycles, while stating that they were in Lagos in search of greener pastures.
Egbeyemi also noted that although nothing incriminating was found on them apart from the motorcycles, the Lagos State Police Command had instructed that a fact-finding panel be set up to profile the detained occupants of the truck.
Reacting to the development, the Jigawa State governor, in a statement by his Personal Secretary, Auwalu D. Sankara, on Saturday, described the arrest as unlawful.
The governor, who said he had already contacted the Lagos State Government, however stated that the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, had assured him of the unconditional release of the detained travellers.
The statement by the governor’s secretary reads in part: “After getting in touch with the officials of the Lagos state government, Governor Badaru, who was not in the country also spoke to the All Progressives Congress, APC, leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who assured of their unconditional release.”