by Dolapo Adelana

The Senator representing Kano North, Jibrin Barau, has denied the allegation that the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), seized 13 vehicles from his residence.

On Monday, the zonal commander of customs task force, Bala Dole, who refused to disclose the identity of the senator had said the vehicles were impounded in the senator’s residence.

“Based on the intelligence report, the vehicles were 30 in number but we were able to trail 13 of them 12 of which were hidden in the senator’s compound.

“We sealed the house and retrieved the vehicles and they are now in our custody.”

But reacting to the issue at Tuesday’s plenary, Barau said the reported seizure of the vehicles never happened and appealed to his colleagues to wade into the matter.

“I received a text message from a reporter, through the text message he explained that I needed to call him because there was an urgent matter. I did not spend up to a minute before calling him,” he said.

“I called thrice, but he refused to pick my call, so I called another reporter attached to the national assembly, he also did not pick my call.

“When I woke up this morning I saw the headline that 13 Hilux vehicles, of which duty has not been paid were found in my residence, and that my house was sealed. This never happened.

“I was with my constituents, we were all in my house, and no Hilux vehicle was in my house. This is terrible; this is bad for democracy.

“My privilege has been abused, and I feel very sad. I really cannot phantom why this should happen when we need to put our heads together. We are in a time of recession.

“We need everyone to come on board, the executive, the legislative and judiciary – even the fourth estate of the realm, so that we can find a solution to the problem we find ourselves.

“I’m wondering why this is coming at this time. This is very sad and I call on the senate to wade into this matter through the ethics and privileges committee.”

The matter was referred to the committee on ethics and privileges by Senate President Bukola Saraki.