Some members of Dried Meat Preservers Traders Association of Nigeria, have alleged that they have lost over 50 million naira worth of donkey skins to some persons masquerading as government agents across the country.
Addressing a joint press conference in Onitsha, Anambra State, on Wednesday, Chairman of Onitsha Branch of the association, Mr Ikechukwu Aniude, flanked by his Sokoto State counterpart, Hamza Ahmed, Sani Ahmed (Gombe State), Kadiri Abubakar (Bornu State), and Alhaja Yawa Idi ( Oyo State), alleged that some persons claiming to be from Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services, have been invading their donkey skin processing camps nationwide with security agents, and extorting money from them.
Aniude, who alleged that over 1,600 pieces of donkey skins worth 50 million naira processed on June 26, 2020, were seized by those people who, he said, are usually accompanied by security men including, the military and the paramilitary agents.
He complained that the development has forced them to shut down their camps and shops in protest for weeks.
They expressed worry that those people who come to extort money from them and also seize their goods and donkey skin, refused to properly identify themselves.
He said those men usually refuse to tell them where their office is located and where they are taking their goods to.
Narrating their ordeal further, Aniude said those men only told them that their headquarters is in Enugu, but that they have not been able to locate them anywhere in Enugu state.
Mr Aniude also alleged that aside seizing their goods, the men have extorted between 200,000 and 800,000 naira from them with the allegation that they are illegal exporters, with threats to jail them if they refuse to comply.
He pointed out that members of the association are not into import and export business, and that their business is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
Adding his voice, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the association, Mr. Ogbonna Nwabueze, who claimed that the business has existed before the Nigerian Civil War and that some of them inherited it from their parents and grandparents, appealed for government intervention to get their goods released and put a stop to the alleged intimidation and extortions.
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