Federal Capital Territory FCT Security Council has resolved to charge arrested vandals with attempted murd£r and or economic sabotage, so as to serve as a deterrent.
This decision comes amidst a rise in the activities of manhole cover thieves in the nation’s capital, Abuja.
The Security Council lamented that the current punishment as contained in extant laws do not really serve as a deterrent.
The council also placed a two-week ban on the activities of scrap and recycled products dealers in order to be able to profile them.
Commissioner of Police in the FCT, Tunji Disu disclosed these on Monday, Jan. 13, after a security council meeting chaired by the FCT minister, Nyesom Wike.
He said scavenging has also been banned in the FCT, especially in the city centres, adding that their activities will only be limited to dump sites.
He said; “We just finished the security meeting with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, where we reviewed our activities for last year, all the security activities. We had the Minister give us his opinion about our scorecards, and how we did well and he emphasized on a lot of things he wanted us to ensure that we work on this year.
“During the course of the meeting, the issue of vandalism of public infrastructure came up again and again. At the end of the meeting, this decision was arrived at; Everybody arrested for vandalizing public infrastructure will be charged to court.
“Not only will they be charged to court, they will be charged to court for economic sabotage because we have noticed that whenever we charge them to court, the punishment given to them is so small that we noticed that we have been recycling these criminals.
“Most of the time, they get community service. Where they are flogged, they get 24 strokes of the cane. At times they get fined for N2,000, N5,000. So, we noticed that we have been recycling these criminals.
“The activities of the vandals are enough to kill residents of the Federal Capital Territory because they remove all these manholes and while driving at night you may not know that they have been removed and it is capable of causing deaths. So they will be charged for economic sabotage and even at times, if possible, attempted murder or murder”.
The CP added that the Council also banned scrap dealers and sellers of recycled or second hand goods locally known as “Pantekas” for the next two weeks in order to be able to profile them.
“At the same time, it has been decided that activities of all ‘Pantekas’ have been banned for two weeks. They have been banned for two weeks for us to profile them to be sure that only legitimate operators will be working in Pantekas. So, they will be banned for two weeks, with effect from Tuesday, and we are going to profile them.
“At the same time, scavenging has been banned in the Federal Capital Territory, especially in the city centres. Their activities will only be limited to dump sites. Henceforth, the activities of scavengers have been banned within the city center of the Federal Capital Territory and the suburb as well.
“All security agencies have been tasked with ensuring that this order is enforced. As from tomorrow, this order will be enforced. The Pantekas will be closed for us to profile them.
“At the same time, we want to talk to the residents of the Federal Capital Territory for them to know that anybody vandalizing public infrastructure is vandalizing our joint property. Numbers have been given out. If you see anything, say something. Let’s join hands to ensure that we protect all government infrastructures”, he added.
As for taxi robbers otherwise known as “one chance” operators, the Council said since the Penal Code did not envisage the crime, perpetrators will be treated as armed robbers and kidnappers.
Disu said; “A lot has been done to curtail the activities of one chance. For your information, in our code, the criminal code, the penal code, we do not have anything called ‘one chance’. All we know is that we have armed robbers because their activities are robbery.
“A lot of times, their activities could be likened to kidnapping as well because all the elements of kidnapping are already there. People are kidnapped and they demand for ransom. So, we are treating them as armed robbers, we are treating them as kidnappers.
“Last year, a lot of them were arrested. As I speak with you, about 21 of their vehicles have been recovered. They are still there for you to see. This means that we have succeeded in removing 25 of their operational vehicles from circulation.
“Also, what we noticed was that a lot of them were coming from other states, moving into the Federal Capital Territory every day as if they are coming to do their legitimate work.
“What we noticed more is that almost all the vehicles recovered from these operators of one chance were tinted, fully tinted, making it difficult for their victims to ask for help, making it difficult for passers-by to see that people in those vehicles were in distress”
