A group of northern traders has petitioned President Bola Tinubu, seeking his intervention in a case where the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seized cooking gas and vehicles in Kano last September.
In a letter addressed to the president, the Northern Traders Alliance (NTA) commended Tinubu for his recent order to release seized food items by the Nigeria Custom Service (NCS), calling it a “humanitarian gesture” that demonstrated his “kind spirit and humane nature towards the deprived.”
However, the traders are now seeking redress for the seizure of their cooking gas and vehicles by the EFCC under the guise of economic sabotage.
In the petition, the traders had initially agreed to a plea bargain with the EFCC, but the anti-graft agency unexpectedly auctioned off the seized liquid gas content, with outsiders brought in from Abuja to benefit from the auction, allegedly against standard rules.
“We are therefore calling on your good office to call the EFCC to order and ask them to return our goods to us,” the petition stated.
The NTA coordinator, Abba Usman, expressed gratitude to the president and prayed for the success of his administration, urging him to “act without fear or favoUr” in resolving the issue.
The petition has also been copied to the attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice, the executive secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the chief commissioner of the Public Complaints Commission.
