By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
The Abuja Metropolitan Management Company , AMMC, has arrested and handed over to the police one expatriate from the major contractors firm for vandalizing streetlight cables in Abuja.
AMMC Coordinator, Chief Felix Obuah on Tuesday disclosed during the inspection of vandalized cable sites, that a well-known contractor from a major firm has been arrested for vandalizing key components of streetlights in the territory.
According to Obuah, the expatriate involved is a major contractor doing business in Abuja but was involved in vandalizing cables and streetlight poles to enable him to get new contracts from the administration.
He said the FCT Administration has formally handed over the suspect to the police for investigation.
However, the AMMC coordinator declined to reveal the name and nationality of the suspect pending conclusion of investigation.
The AMMC Coordinator admitted that until they were able to discover the involvement of high-level contractors in sabotage, said that before now they erroneously believed that miscreants and scavengers were the ones involved in vandalizing cable components in the city.
The vandalism of the cable along Kubwa Express Way left many parts of Gwagwalada, Dawaki and Kasauna in pitch darkness.
He said, “Today, we arrested a very prominent contractor, an expatriate, who are involved in vandalizing the streetlight to enable them to get this contract.”
“As I speak to you, one of the expatriates is in detention. He was arrested as a result of vandalizing our poles. We have evidence, we have everything.”
“Our report is going down to the minister. Tomorrow, immediately, we must make sure that we go to the root cause to discover those who are buying, those who are vandalizing.”
To make sure that the dream of the minister, all his effort, having a sleepless night, to make sure that Abuja is one of the best cities in the whole world is achieved,” Obuah emphasized.
He also disclosed that AMMC maintenance team had restored light to some major streets like Musa Yar’ Adua, Solomon Lar (Jabi) and Hassan Katsina while officials of the company would continue to carry out invention on all 21 lots in the city and ensure that within a short possible time, light is restored to the vandalized major roads.
He further disclosed, ” we have temporarily engaged a local vigilante group to keep watch the cable sites for now to prevent vandalizing.”
