Magnus Eze, Enugu
Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi on Tuesday night shocked residents of the state when he personally led a team of security agents and intercepted a trailer load of cattle with 15 men hidden on the floor of the vehicle.
The incident, which happened at about 9:00 pm near the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport flyover along the Enugu-Abakaliki Expressway, involved a trailer said to be coming from Bauchi State. The vehicle had beaten all security checkpoints on the highways and made its way into the state capital before it was intercepted by the governor who defied the heavy rains to enforce the dusk to dawn curfew imposed across the country by President Muhammdu Buhari.
The governor, after ordering that the men be brought down, lamented the porous nature of the interstate border areas, noting that the fight against COVID-19 would be meaningless with the compromises going on at the borders.
He wondered how such numbers of people found their way into the state under the pretence of transporting cattle.
The men on interrogation claimed they were cattle traders heading to Gariki market in Enugu but missed their way. However, only one of them could produce an identity card belonging to cattle traders when asked to prove their claim.
Not satisfied with their explanation, the governor handed them over to the Emene Police Division for further interrogation. Many violators of the curfew who were driving or doing business in the metropolis were also intercepted during the exercise.
The tyres of their vehicles were deflated and keys handed over to the Emene Division of the Nigeria Police Force.
Since the ban on interstate movement was imposed, Governor Ugwuanyi has been working assiduously to ensure that the Enugu-Benue, Enugu-Kogi, Enugu-Ebonyi and Enugu-Abia boundaries among others, are strictly protected.