Suspicious men storms Daily Trust’s publisher’s residence in Abuja

ABUJA — Three suspicious men in their late thirties, last Friday, stormed the Abuja residence of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust titles, Malam Kabiru Yusuf, threatening the security guard to open the gates for them.

Chief Security Officer (CSO) of Media Trust, Colonel Muktari Garba (rtd), in his testimony, yesterday, said the three suspicious men went to the residence of the publisher around 10 a.m. last Friday, trying to confirm from the security guard on duty, Mr. Agada, whether the house “was the one that belongs to the chief executive of one of the newspapers in Abuja.”

According to the CSO, “when the guard said no, the men who came in an ash posh Honda Civic Coupe, with number plate BL 927 RBC changed their story. They told the guard that the house was actually put off for sale and they were potential buyers who were there to inspect it; therefore he should open the gates for them to get into the compound.

The guard said further that when he refused to open the gates for them, an argument ensued among them and one of them said: “it is the house, so let us just go.” The other one said “let us stay and see if we can inspect the compound,” the guard said.

According to the guard, the men are likely to be from Igbo ethnic group, “because when they were arguing among themselves, they were speaking in Igbo language and I got all what they were saying because I can speak Igbo.”

Colonel Garba (rtd) said the men went to the house at a time when there was virtually nobody around “except the unarmed private guard, cleaners, among other house maids. The children have left for school and their parent also left for work.”

The CSO said the motives of the people became suspicious because “there was no any sign pasted in the property to indicate that it was for sale. Also, the men were not accompanied by any of the purported estate agent.”

He said: “In fact, when the chairman contacted the landlord to find out whether he actually put the property for sale, the landlord was embarrassed beyond comment.”

He said the matter had since been reported to the relevant authorities.

Vanguard