The Nigerian Police Railway Command on Friday, paraded two men, Kokori Blorie, 39 years old, and Mudansuru Muturi, 27 years old, suspected to have vandalized the Warri-Itakpe Train track around Agbor on November 4, 2025.
They had allegedly stolen some clips, bolts and fasteners which led to the derailment of two of the coaches on the Warri-Itakpe corridor on November 1, 2025, while five coaches and the two locomotives were evacuated safely to Agbor Station same day.
Parading the suspects in the company of senior Police Officers among them the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Criminal Investigations Department (DCCID) DCP Yahaya Mana, and the Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations (DOPS) DC Toyin Sulaiman and ACP Ibrahim Audu, the Commissioner of Police Vungmoh Kwaimo, described the arrest as a breakthrough in the police fight against crime and criminality, especially against economic saboteurs stealing the nation’s critical infrastructure across the country.
He said the legal department of the Nigerian Railway Corporation have been appropriately directed to prioritize the prosecution of the criminals at courts of competent jurisdiction.
Kwaimo who disclosed that the offence is not bailable insisted that the suspects will prosecuted at the High Court adding that the Police will stop at nothing to ensure that justice is served and criminals are not allowed to thrive.
“Let me seize this opportunity to urge criminals vandalizing the nation’s critical infrastructure to desist from such acts in their own interest of risk being arrested as the Railway Police, working with other security operatives would continue to sniff them out anywhere they choose to hide anywhere in the country,” the Commissioner er of Police said.
He said the Police is already on the trail of buyers of the stolen materials, adding that the suspects have confessed that they have two buyers; one in Lagos and the other in Agbor adding that the Police is on the heels of anyone accepting the stolen materials from vandals.
The Managing Director of the Corporation Dr Kayode Opeifa said the corporation would change its security strategy with more emphasis now on more community involvement on security.
He urged states to show more concerns for the corporation by building roads that would link to rail stations in their states for the use of their people.
He said with better funding, the corporation would continue to deploy more rolling stocks which would continue to increase the capacity of the corporation to service Nigerians.
Dr Opeifa said the corporation has entered fruitful discussion with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) which would ensure the provision of lights on the station corridors about 500 meters from the stations.
Dr Opeifa who blamed vandalism on the thinking that the materials are scraps said the NRC did not have scraps.
“What we have are critical national assets that are either serviceable or unserviceable. Where they are unserviceable, the corporation repurposes the materials to make them suitable and it alone holds the right to sell any unserviceable materials across the country,” he said.
He said the management of the corporation is determined to achieve zero vandalisation in the country, even as he urged community leaders to cooperate with the security operatives to keep the tracks free from vandals.
The President General of the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NUR), Comrade Innocent Ajiji, condemned vandals for their continued sabotage of the NIgerian Railway system.
Ajiji also praised men of the Nigerian Railway for their diligence and resilience, adding that the workers work under intense pressure to keep the rail working to continue to serve Nigerians.
He urged the Federal Government to invest massively in the railway sector.
