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SaharaReporters gathered that Ogar and all members of the anti-vandal unit of the agency in the state were asked to report to Abuja after some personnel from the command were captured in a video, extorting members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN).
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Ahmed Audi, has summoned to Abuja the commandant of the security agency in Rivers State, Michael Ogar.
SaharaReporters gathered that Ogar and all members of the anti-vandal unit of the agency in the state were asked to report to Abuja after some personnel from the command were captured in a video, extorting members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN).
The CG was very angry, immediately, he summoned the Rivers state commandant of the NSCDC to Abuja, the man is in Abuja as we speak,” a source told SaharaReporters.
SaharaReporters had reported that an oil marketer in Rivers identified as Miyer was arrested.
SaharaReporters gathered that he was arrested by NSCDC officials on Monday at his NNPC petrol station around Today FM, Rumuekini in Port Harcourt.
Sources told SaharaReporters that Miyer was accused by the NSCDC officials of releasing a video footage showing their colleagues extorting him of millions of Naira.
“The owner of the filling station was just arrested and currently detained by the NSCDC for releasing the video footage. That is the CCTV video that exposed NSCDC officers extorting him,” a source said.
They sealed up his station earlier and sent a team from their IRT to arrest him that he is dealing in illegal petroleum products. This is a move to
intimidate him. Unfortunately, it was these same NSCDC operatives that tested his products and they confirmed it’s from the legal source.”
Speaking to SaharaReporters, Olusola Odunmosu, spokesperson of the NSCDC said the arrest was not carried out by officers of the security agency.
“The arrest wasn’t made by our men, you may wish to prove further and make your findings, as a matter of facts, all our anti-vandals boys are not on operation for now because they have been summoned,” he told SaharaReporters.
They are not involved in the arrest. Pls find out properly, I think it’s another agency but not our men.”
Some IPMAN had earlier accused personnel of the corps of aiding and abetting vandals and oil thieves to carry out illegal activities in the state.
The extortion according to them is ongoing despite the disbandment of the anti-vandal unit of the Rivers State Command of the Corps.
The state governor, Nyesom Wike, had accused personnel of the Corps of aiding and abetting vandals and oil thieves to carry out illegal activities in the state, leading to the subsequent suspension of the leader of the anti-vandal team and the disbandment of the unit.
However, SaharaReporters gathered that NSCDC officials randomly accuse marketers of selling illegal petroleum products, thereby forcing them to pay thousands of naira.
Some of the oil marketers who spoke with SaharaReporters had accused Mr. Maduka and Mr Okafor, who were both former members of the defunct anti-vandal team, of leading the extortion ring.
Narrating their ordeal, one of the oil marketers who has been extorted said he recently paid about one million naira and that two million naira (N2 million) was initially demanded by the extortion ring.
“They are always led by Mr. Maduka and one of their superiors, Mr. Okafor. They are from the anti-vandal department of NSCDC Command at Olu Obasanjo Road, Port Harcourt,” one of the victims had told SaharaReporters.
“They carry out this extortion with so much threat and at gunpoint. They go to different filling stations, especially along East-West Road claiming that our diesel and gasoline were not got from the right marketers but from illegal refineries that had been destroyed.”
In a video obtained by SaharaReporters, two operatives of the NSCDC were seen counting bulks of money in the office of one of their victims.
The video shows two armed officers negotiating and demanding money from a female oil marketer.
In what looked like a tense mood, the female oil marketer brought out a huge amount of money from the drawer and a handbag and handed some money over to the two NSCDC officers, who from time to time checked the door for possible intruders.
The officers thereafter tucked the cash in a big brown envelope before leaving the office.
Angered by the report, Ahmed Abubakar Audi, Commandant-General of NSCDC on Monday set up an investigative panel to probe the officials caught on tape.
