This open letter is a plea to the Honourable Minister of Interior in the Federal Republic of Nigeria to intervene and bring justice to bear in a case involving my company, Dynamic Kautal Hore Engineering Company Limited and the Niger State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).
The honourable minister may wish to be informed that Media Trust Limited (MTL) engaged my company to dismantle and decommission a tower and mount another for the take-off of its new radio station it established in Abuja.
However, in the cause of executing the contract, a series of events led to the writing of this letter seeking for your good office to investigate and cause justice to take place.
How it all started:
A conglomerate called Media Trust Limited – MTL- that owns Daily Trust Newspapers, Aminiya and Teen Trust, recently set out to establish the Trust Radio station, which has started streaming online and plans to go terrestrial on 92.7 FM band to serve radio listeners in the Federal Capital Territory.
The formal take-off of Trust Radio on the terrestrial platform has stalled due to the delay in the delivery of a radio tower acquired on behalf of MTL by my company, Dynamic Kautal Hore Engineering Company Limited.
After the signing of the contract between my company and MTL, we mobilised to the site of a tower in Niger State, and after acquiring the necessary documents for its dismantling and decommissioning to be moved to Abuja.
However, after the tower was brought down, two officials of NSCDC chased away the staff of my company and confiscated the tower and took it to the Niger State command of the agency.
Efforts made to recover the tower:
The effort made to recover the tower was frustrated by not only the hierarchy of leadership at the Niger State command of the NSCDC but the Commandant General of the security outfit at Abuja. A series of events led to the above.
First, my company took three weeks to decommission the 80-metre tower and just when we were making efforts to move it to Abuja, a team of NSCDC men led by 2i/c Hussain Hassan from Rafi Local Government Division, who had a heated argument with security men manning the site, insisted that they must carry the tower to the state command of NSCDC in Minna.
As the proprietor of my company, I took time to visit the headquarters of NSCDC in Minna and requested for the tower that was brought from Rafi Local Government to be returned to me but the tower was nowhere to be found.
The commandant however directed the officer in charge of Vandalisation, one Oga Aliyu Dangote, to investigate the matter but up till now, there has been no result on the investigation carried out.
We were, however, called to the headquarters of NSCDC in Abuja in the presence of the Niger State commandant and some of his staff toward resolving the problem. The headquarters of the NSCDC pleaded with us to give them up to the end of November to get us another tower.
We, however, insisted on getting back our tower or where it must be another tower, it has to come with compensation.
Conclusion:
The Honourable Minister is requested to note that there are ample pieces of evidence in the form of written documents and voices to prove beyond reasonable doubt the injustices meted out to my company by the officials of NSCDC in both Niger State command and the headquarters of the security outfit in Abuja.
While awaiting a favourable response from your good office, as I remain hopeful that justice will be done in the matter.
Faithfully yours,
Eng. Bello Magaji, Dynamic Kautal Hore Engineering Company Limited