4th March, 2024
By Philip Yatai
The FCT Minister of State, Dr Mariya Mahmoud has described the looting of the warehouse located at Gwagwa-Tasha as a very unfortunate incident as she noted that the hoodlums carted away all the grains and other foodstuffs, including the roofing sheets of the facility.
The action, according to her, is beyond hunger; it is criminal.
“We are here due to the unfortunate incident that happened early hours of yesterday (Sunday), where hoodlums attacked this very warehouse and packed everything that is here.
“Not only food items, including the roofing, windows, and even the gates of this place were carted away.
“You can see the level of damage. There is nothing that is left here, including machinery that are used for the processing of some of the food in the warehouse,”
Mahmoud stated after an assessment visit to the warehouse which was looted by residents on Sunday, to ascertain the level of damage.
She said the FCT Administration will establish a police post in all its warehouses to prevent miscreants from invading and looting their contents.
Gwagwa-Tasha warehouse, whose roofing was carted away by hoodlums that attacked and looted the food stuff.
She identified the youths in the area as the suspects that may have instigated the looting.
The minister explained that the looting occurred when the FCT Administration was restocking its warehouses with a view to meeting up with the directive of President Bola Tinubu.
She said that Tinubu had directed that palliative be distributed to residents in all the six Area Councils of the FCT.
She assured that the administration would prosecute those behind the ugly incident.
“We distributed the palliative twice and about to do the third one, when the hoodlums attacked the trucks offloading food items in the warehouse, leaving some of the officials injured.
“This is a sign that we need to reinforce the security situation around all our warehouses, because you just have to keep food.
“But the way this thing happened actually is beyond hunger. This is a criminal act. Somebody that is hungry cannot move out to remove all the roofing that is here,” she said.
Mahmoud further said that the incident may delay the distribution of palliative in the territory.
The Police Command in the FCT had on Sunday announced the arrested 15 suspects in connection with the looting of the warehouse.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the FCT, SP Josephine Adeh, who made the announcement in a statement, added that two security guards employed by the warehouse management were among the suspects arrested.
Adeh said 26 bags of maize, five motorcycles and some vandalised aluminum roofing sheets were recovered from the suspects. (NAN)