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The INEC "Tanker Bomb Story"-Citizen Reports

May 5, 2007

Shortly before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) began the presidential polls on Saturday April 21, 2007, police announced that a petrol tanker laden with gas cylinders and without a driver was steered in the direction of INEC’s national headquarters along Zambezi Street in Maitama, Abuja for the purpose of sabotage. An electric pole was said to have stopped it.


Hours afterwards, major Kano transporter, 70 years old Alhaji Inusa Sani, the Chief Executive of Kano-based Sani Brothers Ltd was taken into police custody where he has remained without being charged to court. The tanker used in the attempt to sabotage INEC was only one of the numerous scrap tankers sold off by Sani Brothers Ltd, which owns more than 200 tankers that are in good condition, servicing several major oil marketers across Nigeria.

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Here, Alhaji Abdullahi Yinus, an executive director of Sani Brothers Ltd gives insights into the mystery of the truck that went to INEC and reasons why the diabetic 70 years old Inusa Sani ought to be freed immediately.

Police insist that the tanker had a thin layer of paint covering the normal inscription of Sani Brothers. That appears to be the only reason why they are holding Alhaji Inusa Sani who is also the chairman of Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO).

 

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Question: How did people at Sani Brothers Limited in Kano , receive the news of your boss, Alhaji Inusa Sani, over the attempted bombing of INEC’s National headquarters in Abuja ?

 

Alhaji Abdullahi Yinus:           It came to us as a surprise but people in Kano are 100 percent sure that Alhaji Inusa Sani had no hand in the matter. The issue began around April 18th , 2007 when somebody came into our office from nowhere. He had been to Musa Aliyu motors in Kano where he was said to have bought a trailer-head. He came looking for a scrap tanker.

He was introduced to one of our boys named Mohammed Hussein with whom he discussed his requirement or need for one of the old and disused tankers we had. We normally sell of old tankers because our operations for the major oil marketers must always meet some standards and specifications required by the major marketers for whom we transport petroleum products.

Our boy, Mohammed Hussein sold off one of the old tankers to the man who introduced himself as Bello Adamu Giade. Giade is the name of a village in Bauchi State . The scrap tanker was sold for N1.2 million. The same Bello Adamu Giade had bought a tanker or trailer-head from Musa Aliyu Motors at a cost of N2.6 million that day.

After buying the head and the tanker, Giade went ahead to buy tyres and couple the tanker. Nobody knew his real mission. He asked us for receipt and Musa Aliyu who works for us gave him one.

 

Question: Can you show members of the public a copy of the receipt?

 

Alhaji Abdullahi Yinus: No, the entire receipt booklet is with the policemen who came from Abuja . The boy who sold the tanker on our behalf, Mohammed Hussein, is still being held in Abuja .

The fact is that Alhaji Inusa Sani, the chairman of Sani Brothers was not aware of this transaction at all. This sort of transaction on the sale of scraps does not normally involve the head office of Sani Brothers at all. All that a sectional manager who is selling such scraps needs to do is to take proceeds of the sale to the company’s bank account. He did that on April 19.

Question: So, where is the mystery?

Alhaji Abdullahi Yinus: The mystery is that the man who bought the tanker (Bello Adamu Giade) got the funds with which he paid on April 19, from a bank here in Kano . He brought the sum of N1.2 million plus the N2.6 million for a trailer head and other sums with which he brought tyres.

When the police foiled an attempt to bomb INEC, they now said that they have intercepted a Sani Brothers tanker at INEC office in the morning of Saturday when the presidential election was scheduled to begin. We were shocked to hear that.

On the date of the election, we were holding an emergency meeting in the chairman’s office. Alhaji Inusa Sani summoned us, the directors, to his house to inquire about how our company’s name got mixed up in this problem. He was wondering what might have happened.

I informed him that a scrap tanker sold from here might have been used in that act.  He assumed that there was no problem since it was the buyer that put it into such illegal use.

While we were deliberating, there was a call from the commissioner of police in Abuja , inviting us to Abuja on that same day.

 

Question:  So, what happened next?

 

Alhaji Abdullahi Yinus: The commissioner of police now said that we should come to Abuja . Shortly after that, the commissioner of police in Kano State also called, saying that there is an order from the Inspector-General of Police that he should bring the chairman of Sani Brothers, Alhaji Inusa Sani who is also the president of National Association of Transport Owners (NARTO) latest on the night of Saturday, April 21.

So, three of us went to meet the commissioner of police at Bompai, to ask why all this idea other than the directive he was given, that Alhaji Inusa Sani should be taken to Abuja by all means, on that night (Saturday, April 21st ). He said that was the instruction from the Inspector-General of Police.

Alhaji Inusa Sani is a 70-year old man with hundred of employees.

We wondered why the IGP had such authority and we have no rights, even as law-abiding Nigerians. Because our hands are clean, Alhaji Inusa Sani harbored no fears and thought he would only make explanations in Abuja and return home immediately. We then pleaded with the commissioner of police in Kano to assist us by talking to our boy who sold the scrap tanker and helping to pick the two people who brought the person that purchased it. The CP agreed and picked the two men who introduced Bello Adamu Giade to our boy.

Those who went to Abuja that night were the chairman of Sani Brothers along with the inspector who came to arrest him, two armed mobile policemen the two men who brought Giade and our man who did the sale. The police said that they do not have the vehicle to transport them to Abuja so; we had to use Alhaji Inusa Sani’s Land Cruiser Jeep that night.

Since that night of April 21, Alhaji Inusa Sani has remained in police custody at Abuja , without charges. He has expressed his complete innocence. He is not a politician and he did not know the person who bought the tanker. The buyer, Bello Adamu Giade left his address and two telephone lines with us. We gave these to the police.

 

Question:  Were the police able to trace Bello Adamu Giade?

 

Alhaji Abdullahi Yinus: They were not able to do so until this moment. He was a well-known person but he has become invisible, he just disappeared!

It is surprising that now; the police cannot trace his whereabouts in Nigeria . He has evacuated his family from his house in Abuja . He gave us another address, Kafin-Dantama Motors along Ahmadu Bello way in Abuja , indicating that he is a vehicle dealer. People confirmed that he lived in Abuja but he has taken off with his family.

 

Question: Giade brought N1.2 million in cash to buy a tanker from Sani Brothers. Which banks stamp or logo is on the bundles of those Naira notes? The bank may have taken a photograph during the withdrawal.

 

Alhaji Abdullahi Yinus: The police people wanted to investigate at the bank but they cannot do so without a court order. I believe that arrangements were being made for a motion ex-parte for the Kano State Chief Judge to now approve an order to enable the police investigate how the account was credited, who withdrew the money, the photograph taken and so on.

The Ministry of Justice in Kano State has always been on the side of justice and we expect them to do their best to facilitate police investigations.

The bundle of Naira notes used to pay us came from one of the four big old generation banks’ branch in Kano city.  

Question: Why do you think that the police are holding on to Alhaji Inusa Sani? Is it due to the fear that he could escape or that NARTO could be mobilized to cause a paralyzing crisis?

 

Alhaji Abdullahi Yinus: Alhaji Inusa Sani is a peace-loving man who is well known to Kano royalty, police and even the President of Nigeria. He can never run from Nigeria . He ought to be able to bail himself, at least. This is someone who has been running a huge transportation business that includes more than 200 petroleum tankers, over the past thirty years. He has never been a politician.

The tanker involved in the illegality had been sold off and it is no longer our property. Our business had been in existent long before even the Corporate Affairs Commission begun to exist. Everybody knows that we have a good record.

If we had known that Alhaji Inusa Sani would be unduly detained for this long, we could have involved NARTO and other people. Nevertheless, we also believe that there is no need for anyone to cause crises as we are convinced that there is simply no question for Alhaji Inusa Sani to answer.

It is the duty of the police to bring Bello Adamu Giade to book. They must find out who sent him on that mission and used him as a front to come and buy one of our scrap tankers the way other people have been coming in the past years. 

 

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