Troops of Forward Operations Base in Yobe have arrested a 43-year-old man for being in possession of 19 pieces of seed-planting equipment.

The planters were among the items the Yobe government recently distributed to farmers for free under its Agriculture Empowerment Programme.

This is contained in a statement by retired Brig.- Gen. Dahiru Abdulsalam, special adviser to Governor Mai Mala Buni on Security Matters in Damaturu on Tuesday. He said the man was arrested at about 12:10 a.m. on Tuesday with the equipment concealed in a bus on the Potiskum to Gombe Road.

“Today, at about 00:10 a.m., troops of FOB Potiskum arrested a man in possession of 19 seed planters. 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,” Mr Abdulsalam said.

He said the suspect could not prove 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. 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,” he said.

Mr Abdulsalam said the suspect and the recovered items would be handed over to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for prosecution.

The reports that Mr Buni had directed security agents to arrest anyone found moving the equipment out of the state.

(NAN)