I Dreamt I Would Be Arrested, Vandal Narrates Ordeal As FCTA Nabs 13

By: Wisdom Acka

I will not lie, this is the second time I am doing it. The first time, they did not catch me. I did it to get money and chop (eat).

After that, I dreamt and saw all that is happening here today (the parade), and I made up my mind never to do it again. So I refused all encouragements from my colleagues to do it again.

But when I was hungry and begged them to give me small money to buy food, they refused so I did not want to do it but I reluctantly joined them and I was caught. That is why I am here. I wish I did not do. I will not do it again.

With seeming remorse and almost bursting into tears, one of the vandals of the Abuja Rail facilities, Dominic Torbee, narrated his ordeal during parade of the 13 vandals in Abuja, Friday.

Torbee disclosed that the vandalized and stolen items are usually sold in kilogrammes with 1kilo costing N4,000.

Luck ran out of the vandals when they fell into the hands of Segad Security and Protection Company Limited personnel on Wednesday, while cutting communication cables and wires and removing other facilities at the rail line.

Except one, all 12 vandals are workers of either CCECC or RCC who are engaged on a daily basis and paid N1100 to fix the earlier vandalized facilities.

Chairman of the Security Company, Dr. Segun Adekola, while parading the suspects stated that his firm was charged with the responsibility of safeguarding the rail facilities.

According to him, more than one hundred of them have been nabbed in the past, lamenting that the suspects were, however, released without prosecution.

He decried that his men face a daunting challenge from vandalism; adding that many of the suspected vandals have been arrested in the past and handed over to the Police or Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and he would do same with the latest 13.

Recall that contract for the rehabilitation of vandalized portions of the Abuja Light Rail, running into billions was recently awarded by the FCT Administration and the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has declared that President Tinubu has said he would ride on the rail as soon as possible.