Transporter petitions government regarding 32 seized autos

The management of London Line Transport Company Limited has filed a petition with Benue State Governor Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia regarding an alleged invasion of its premises by the state’s Assets Recovery Committee, which was formed to reclaim state properties that the immediately preceding governor, Samuel Ortom, is believed to have taken.

Last Tuesday, the asset recovery committee, led by Hinga Biem, raided what was allegedly Ortom’s auto shop in Markurdi and tow away 32 high-end vehicles.

Prior to Ortom’s resignation, the administration claimed that he had taken 29 state-owned vehicles without authorization.

The 32 automobiles seized by the asset recovery commission, according to Ortom’s assistant Terver Akase, do not belong to the former governor.

The Chief Executive Officer of London Line Transport Company Limited, Emmanual Viashima, petitioned the governor on July 14 to claim ownership of the seized cars and seek N5 billion in damages for what he claimed was a forcible invasion of his property.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the National Human Rights Commission, the Inspector General of Police, the Benue State Police Commissioner, the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, the Assets Recovery Committee, and the Tor Tiv were all copied on the appeal.

The committee members, according to Viashima, bullied his employees who, he claimed, had begun recording the incursion and took some of their phones, which were eventually given back.

As he identified the owners of the seized automobiles, including Ortom and his wife, Eunice, a traditional ruler, and some of the former governor’s aides, he asserted that none of the vehicles hauled from the workshop belonged to the former governor.

Varshima bemoaned the committee’s terrible destruction of his wife’s Lexus 250 while hauling it away.

He said, “Upon being informed of the development, I rushed to the scene to make sense out of the entire chaotic scenario and to my utter disbelief, I was locked out of the premises and refused entry.

“At the moment, the company is already experiencing immediate consequences and direct fallout of the negative publicity as a result of the invasion.

“Contrary to claims by the Assets Recovery Committee that 30 vehicles were towed away from the company’s premises, the number of vehicles forcefully taken away from the company by the committee is 32.

“Your Excellency, it is in the light of the foregoing that I petition your good office to look into the issues I have raised herein with the mindset to erase the erroneous impression created in the minds of the public.

“Order a release of the vehicles seized as well as payment of N5bn damages by the Benue State Goverment in view of the economic impact of my losses to enable me mitigate the  said losses and jump-start my crumbled business.”