Taraba Community Leaders Accuse Police Over Embezzlement Of N8m Cement Funds

Community leaders from Shagogo in Donga local government area of Taraba State have accused the Taraba State Police Command of aiding an acclaimed cement dealer who defrauded the community of money to the tune of N6.140 million.

The community members of Shagogo in January 14 2025, ordered a Truck of Cement containing 900 bags from Dangote Cement Gboko at the rate of N8000 for each bag.

The cement was procured for church projects. On the truck containing the cement’s arrival in the Donga area, the driver refused to hand over the consignment to the buyers, claiming that the money for the commodity was paid to the wrong dealer.

The matter was reported to the police area command, where the truck was intercepted and detained; the community leaders also proceeded to obtain a court order at Area 1 Court in Donga for legal detention of the truck and the commodity pending when the case is properly settled.

Speaking to journalists in Jalingo yesterday, the head of Shagogo Zaki Terngu Agere said the police decided to free the truck with the cement without consulting the community members who are the complainants of the case.

Agere said the cement transaction was properly done with a known cement marketer in Gboko Benue state. “But on the truck’s arrival in Donga to hand over the products to us, the Cement dealer who collected N6.140million for the transaction through bank transfer switched off all his phone lines,” he said. a situation that has been generating crisis since January.

Agere wondered why the police chose to release the truck containing the cement, knowing that the matter had been properly reported to police and that a court order restraining the release of the vehicle had been pasted on the truck’s body.

He urged the Inspector General of Police ( IGP) and other security agencies to help the community recover the cement or their money from the fraudster, stating that the funds were gathered from their hard-earned money.

When contacted, the police public relations officer of the Taraba State Police Command, Mr. Abubakar Usman, confirmed the development to our correspondent.

Usman said the matter was reported to the state’s police command and was later transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for proper investigation.

“We are aware of the matter, our CID are handling it, although, they have gotten an order to release the vehicle to the owner, we promise to get the person behind the crime,” Usman said.