Camels carrying ‘huge baggage’ cross into Nigeria: Audu Ogbeh
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has alleged that caravans of camels loaded with large baggage are crossing into Nigeria borders on a daily basis, amidst fear of rising insecurity.
The group said the baggage had been imported via the porous borders of the North-west region of the country. “They use Sokoto and Zamfara as their major routes,” Audu Ogbeh, ACF chairman, made this known in a statement issued on Thursday.
Mr. Ogbeh, a former minister of agriculture, noted that the baggage came in freely into the country with little or no screening by relevant security agencies.
However, the forum urged the federal government to tackle the situation immediately in order not to complicate the current security challenges.
“At the last meeting of our National Executive Council (NEC), in October 2020, our members, particularly from Sokoto and Zamfara, reported that large consignments of camels were crossing our borders into Nigeria with a lot of baggage on their backs on a daily basis.
“And they observed that nobody checks their baggage and nobody knows what is being brought into Nigeria,” Mr. Ogbeh said.
“The ACF is alarmed that if this kind of situation persists at a time when weapons of all kinds are coming into our country, it will worsen the climate of terror and national uncertainty.
“The ACF wants to alert the government about this situation, if they are not aware of it and if they are aware of it, to ask what they are doing about it,” he added.
Most states from the northwest, including President Muhammadu Buhari’s home Katsina State, have been ravaged by banditry and kidnapping activities over the years.
In December 2020, bandits abducted over 330 secondary school boys in Kankara, Katsina, while Mr. Buhari was on a week-long private vacation in his town Daura.
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