By Raymond Ozoji, Awka
Transtell Company located at No 20 GMO road Atani industrial layout near Onitsha is currently under siege as over 30 personnel of the Nigerian Army from 302 General Support Artillery Regiment/Onitsha Military Cantonment invaded the company’s premises on Wednesday 18th June at about 1pm, threatening to kill any staff of the company who attempted to make videos, take pictures or make phone calls to alert the public about what they saw as illegal operation.
Investigations has it that the soldiers shut down operations in the company with a promise to return the next day for further actions. Sources from the company revealed that the military personnel returned the next day with many heavy duty trucks and ordered all staff of the company out of the premises leaving only the security men who watched helplessly while the fully armed soldiers siphoned the company’s petroleum products and other company finished products into many heavy duty trucks and absconded to an unknown destination.
Investigations also revealed that Transtell Company and Envoy Group chaired by Chief Felix Ojimba, is a company reputed for the production of edible oil,with Palm Kernel oil ,Palm oil and Soya bean oil as raw materials for production of different types of edible oil.The company is said to procure her petroleum products (AGO and LPFO) directly from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and NNPC Certified Vendors with transaction receipts and other documentations as evidence of legality and due process in business.
However pandemonium erupted when officers of the Nigerian Army invaded the company’s premises on Thursday 19th June, beating the workers and forced their way in with many heavy Duty Trucks carting away both petroleum products and other company refined edible products on account of an intelligence that the company deals on oil bunkery.
Further investigation has it that the army personnel who came for the operation did not produce any search warrants or petitions authorizing them to unleash terror and mayhem on the company on that fateful day.
As at Friday 20th June, Transtell Company has been held hostage by the soldiers who barricaded the premises and held some security operatives of the company captive, locked the entire premises of the company with their own keys and locks.
As at the time of writing this report, the remote cause of invasion of Transtell Company by officers of the Nigerian Army has not been ascertained as none of the company’s staff could say exactly why the company was being raided by soldiers because the soldiers refused to disclose why they were on the operation, instead, they only stated that they were acting on instructions from a higher authority and anybody who dared to stop them will pay with his or her life.
Further findings also revealed that the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) in charge of ascertaining adulterated petroleum products in the country were not part of the unlawful invasion of Transtell Company as seen in the operations of officers of the 302 Artillery Regiment of the Nigerian Army Onitsha.
None of the aforementioned agencies of the Federal Government were involved in the operation thereby leaving doubts as per the real motive behind the actions of the Nigerian Army. The due process of sample collection and validation wasn’t applied in their operations.
However there are fears that some of the company’s machines were not properly shut down which will cause a big loss to the company and also poses a bigger risk of explosions to inhabitants of the industrial area.
As at the time of writing this report, the Transtell company is still on lock with some personnel of the Nigerian Army still inside the premises and some of the company’s security still held captive by the soldiers without outside communication or feeding.
Speaking on the unfortunate development in his company , the Chairman of Transtell Nig Ltd Chief Felix Ojimba, said he was highly disappointed in the actions of the military operatives who overran his company without observing due processes of the law. Ojimba who stated that he pleaded with the military personnel to test his materials to ascertain whether they were faulty, said information has it that the soldiers have invaded a lot of companies for similar illegal operations.
Ojimba maintained that the military operatives who invaded his company blatantly refused to listen to their explanations even when they presented evidence that their petroleum products were got from NNPC and NNPC certified vendors. He said as it stands at the moment over 105 staff of his company have been rendered jobless by the soldiers who invaded and shutdown his company illegally and without clear-cut explanations for their actions.
The Transtell boss stated that his company is owing so many other companies including banks where they borrowed money in billions for their business but with the current affliction brought upon his company by officers of the Nigerian Army, his company is headed for the rocks because they can no longer do anything, emphasizing that the intimidations, molestations and usurpations of fundamental rights of citizens by officers of the Nigerian Army is extremely too much.
According to him, his company’s security operatives are currently under illegal arrest by the soldiers who held them hostage without options of leaving the company’s premises. Ojimba also pointed out that two of his staff were arrested on Wednesday 18th June by the soldiers when they invaded the company’s premises and taken to the barracks but were later released in the evening of the same day.
Ojimba who stated that he is still confused as to why soldiers would suddenly invade his business premises to disrupt his business without an official document stating clearly why they were in the company for whatever purpose, said the soldiers who came for the sinister operation didn’t present any search warrants or petition against the company instead they acted above the law and wrecked havoc on his company.
He said already the petroleum products and other refined products carted away from his company by the soldiers is over N200 Million and he is going to court to challenge the veracity or otherwise of the terror and mayhem unleashed on his company by officers of the 302 Artillery Regiment of the Nigerian Army in Onitsha, stressing that the actions of the soldiers against his firm was completely unlawful and undemocratic.
