‘Erroneous Report’ – NRC Denies Train Coaches Theft In Borno

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has denied media reports that its train coaches were stolen in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Recall that the Borno Police had claimed that it had arrested six suspects over an attempt to steal three train coaches at the Maiduguri railway terminus.

The Borno Commissioner of Police, Lawan Yusuf, said suspects were arrested on Saturday after a distress call about the attempted theft of the train coaches. 

Yusuf said one Aliyu Mai Nasara, the principal suspect, was accosted while coordinating the loading of three coaches into trucks.

But in a statement on Saturday night, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Railway Corporation, Fidet Okhiria, said there was no such thing as train coach theft in Maiduguri.

Okhiria explained that the people moving the Coaches were officials of the Corporation and doing so in an official capacity, saying that the Borno police command was misinformed.

He added that the Coaches were being moved to the Corporation’s Running Shed in Jos, Plateau State, which is to be overhauled and put back into operation.

The statement reads: “The attention of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has been drawn to news trending on numerous social media platforms purported to have emanated from the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), which claimed that an attempt was made to steal NRC coaches from Maiduguri.

“The NRC management wishes to clarify this erroneous report by stating that the said Coaches are officially being moved to the NRC Running Shed in Jos, Plateau State, to be overhauled and put back into operation.

“NRC is trying to extend Rail Mass Transit nationwide.”