Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Bayelsa State Government and security operatives on Sunday intercepted and sent back two buses carrying no fewer than seventeen Almajiri at the Glory Land entry point into Yenagoa, the state capital.
Hon Freston Akpor, the Permanent Secretary of the State Ministry of Information and Orientation, who disclosed this on behalf of the COVID-19 State Task Force, said in a quick response the operatives stationed at the entry point ordered that the Almajiri be taken back in the same buses conveying them.
According to Freston Akpor, the buses were intercepted by a team of task force officials led by Akpoebi Agberebi with a team of security operatives enforcing the No Entry directive of the government at the border.
According to the members of the state COVID-19 task force, the Almajiri consisted of young boys of various origins from the North.
“While some of the Almajiri claimed they were on their way to the state on a commercial fishing expedition, others claimed to be on the way to Port Harcourt, Rivers State en route Bayelsa waters.”
Akpor further stated that the seventeen persons including their drivers were escorted to Patani, the border between Delta and Bayelsa states.