Robbers vandalise Abia NNPC mega station

Biola Azeez, Umuahia - 30.01.2008

Armed robbers at about 1:30 a.m. on Monday, robbed and vandalised Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), mega station located at the Ekeoba junction of the Enugu-Aba expressway, carting away unspecified amount of money.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the robbers, numbering about 15, stormed the area, shooting sporadically after which they got and tied the night guards and wounded the mobile policeman on duty with gun shots on his left arm.

It was also gathered that the NNPC mega station’s underground safe, computer installations which linked the pumps, glass windows, doors and walls were vandalised by the hoodlums.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune through telephone, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Emmanuel Ezeozue, confirmed the incident and said that a policeman sustained gun wounds, adding that the policeman killed one of the robbers in an exchange of gunfire.

The police boss, who said the injured policeman has been taken to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia, to extract the bullets lodged on his left arm and get other medical attention, added that investigation has commenced into the matter, assuring that in no distant time, the hoodlums would be fished out.

Also speaking, the traditional ruler of Ekeoba autonomous community in Umuahia North Local Government Area of the state, Eze Iheanyichukwu Nwokenna, lamented over the incident, adding that there was more to it than ordinary armed robbery.

He alleged that some people might have ganged up to stop the operation of the mega filling station because it sells at controlled price unlike the private filling stations in the state.

He, therefore, asked the police authority to get to the root of the matter in the interest of the people that are likely to suffer the closure of the mega station.