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Warehouse Looting: Hungry People Can’t Remove Doors, Windows – Mariya Mahmoud
The Minister of State of the Federal Capital Territory, Dr Mariya Mahmoud, made this known in a statement issued on Monday by her Special Adviser on Media, Austin Elemue.
The decision followed Sunday’s invasion of a warehouse located in Gwagwa-Tasha, belonging to the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat of the FCTA, by hoodlums.
The incident took place amid the ongoing food crisis ravaging the nation.
Mahmoud, during her visit to the warehouse on Monday, expressed disappointment with the incident, describing it as not driven by hunger but criminal minds.
“This is really a bad situation. And it is not something that the Administration will take lightly. All those that are involved must be brought to book. We have to do something. And also, 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 is beyond hunger. This is a criminal act. Somebody who is hungry cannot move out to remove all the roofings that are here. All the doors, all the windows, and also the gates.
“As you have heard from people around, the youth of the environment or the community, are suspected to have instigated this incident. So, this is a very sad event. And we are not happy about it”, she said.
Mahmoud explained that the incident occurred when the administration was restocking its warehouse to meet up with the directive of President Bola Tinubu to distribute palliatives to all six area councils in the FCT.
She further stated that the FCTA would find and prosecute those behind the ugly incident, noting that the administration would renovate the warehouse in due time.
“We did distribution about twice. And then about to do the third one, where these trucks were here to offload these food items, and then they were attacked, even injured some people on duty.
“This is not showing that we are good ambassadors of the nation. So definitely we are going to take action about this event that has happened. We have to reconstruct, not even renovate this warehouse, all the offices, and then the gates that are damaged”, she stated.
The Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN has warned against obstructing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from carrying out its lawful duty .
Fagbemi’s warning is contained in a statement in Abuja.
“This is a matter of very grave concern, it is now beyond doubt that the EFCC is given power by the law to invite any person of interest to interact with them in the course of their investigations into any matter, regardless of status.
“Therefore, the least that we can all do when invited, is not to put any obstruction in the way of EFCC, but to honourably answer their invitation.
“A situation where public officials who are themselves subject of protection by law enforcement agents will set up a stratagem of obstruction to the civil and commendable efforts of the EFCC to perform its duty is to say the least, insufferably disquieting’’.
He added that running away from the law will not resolve issues at stake but only exacerbate them.
“Nigeria has a vibrant judicial system that is capable of protecting everyone who follows the rule of law in seeking protection.
“I therefore encourage anyone who has been invited by the EFCC or any other agency to immediately toe the path of decency and civility by honouring such invitation instead of embarking on a temporising self-help and escapism.
“This can only put our country in bad light before the rest of the world’’.
He said institutions of state should be allowed to function effectively and efficiently.
“I stand for the rule of law and will promptly call EFCC, and indeed any other agency to order when there is an indication of any transgressions of the fundamental rights of any Nigerian by any of the agencies’’.
NAN reports that the EFCC had on Wednesday warned members of the public that it was a criminal offence to obstruct officers of the Commission from carrying out their lawful duties.
Section 38(2)(a(b) of the EFCC Establishment Act makes it an offence to prevent officers of the Commission from carrying out their lawful duties. Culprits risk a jail term of not less than five years.
The warning , the EFCC said, became necessary against the background of the increasing tendency by persons and groups under investigation by the Commission to take the laws into their hands by recruiting thugs to obstruct lawful operations of the EFCC.
On several occasions, the anti graft agency said, operatives of the Commission have had to exercise utmost restraint in the face of such provocation to avoid a breakdown of law and order.
Some unknown gunmen have kidnapped Joshua Rogers, the ChannelsTV reporter in Port-Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Politics Nigeria learnt that Rogers was picked up close to his residence at Rumuosi in Port Harcourt and to an unknown destination by the gunmen around 9pm on Thursday, April 11.
The reporter was driving his official ChannelsTV branded car when the hoodlums accosted, pointed a gun at him and took him away in the same vehicle.
Rogers was said to be returning from his official assignment in Government House after a trip to Andoni for a government event when the incident happened.
Already, the gunmen were said to have contacted his wife and demanded a N30million ransom for bis release.
His cameraman confirmed the incident and appealed to his abductors to set him free unconditionally.
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