Residents of Kebbi state, northern Nigeria have defied the threat of guns and teargas from security agencies in the state by looting government warehouses and stores owned by private concerns in their bid to get food for their families.
According to reports gathered by the magazine, the hungry residents stormed the state capital looting warehouses belonging to the government, including food donated by Africa’s Riches man, Aliko Dangote for distribution to residents of the state.
The development marked one of the recent cases in which hungry Nigerians have looted public and private property across the country, in their quest to get food for themselves as the economic situation in the country worsens.
Warehouses where food items were stored in Kaduna, Niger state, Federal Capital Territory, FCT, had recently been looted by hungry and angry Nigerians, in search of food to escape the current hardship in the country, made worse by the government’s removal of fuel subsidy and other belt tightening measures introduced by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In the case of Kebbi, government warehouse located in the Bayan Kara area, successfully overpowering the security forces who fired live ammunition and teargas to scare the looters away.
Government sources said the looted items which included a truck loaded with varieties of grains meant to be distributed to residents were plundered.
Speaking, Ahmed Idris, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor of the state Nasir Idris, said goods purchased by the government for distribution to residents worth N5 billion were totally looted, adding that the trucks looted were more than 200.
The governor’s spokesman said: “The hoodlums had earlier attacked the consignment of food items brought to the state for distribution to the people by Dangote before targeting the government warehouse.
“It is unfortunate those who broke into the warehouse had gone there to steal what belongs to the people of the state.
Meanwhile, the state government said serious security measures have been put in place to ward of such incidents from recurring.
