The looting of palliatives in Ilogbo Elegba, Abule Oje and Imude communities in Ojo LGA of Lagos State, has been uncovered, Africa Health Report (AHR) investigations can reveal authritatively. The palliatives, according to our finding were meant to be distributed by the Lagos state government to the residents of the area for the Eid-el-Kabir celebration.
The palliatives included assorted food stuffs like beans, rice, and garri, which our sources said were targeted at giving the residents a lift from the effect of the economic hardship. The palliatives were loaded in seven trucks that moved in a convoy to the area, AHR investigations have further revealed.
The intention of the state government to distribute the freebies was marred as the food items were looted by police escorts and residents at the point of offloading and delivery, (the village townhall).
AHR was reliably informed that the trucks actually arrived at Ilogbo Elegba at 5:30pm on Thursday, June 13.
The vehicles were stationed in front of the townhall, a strategic location in the heart of the town which shares the same compound with the secretariat of the Oto-awori Local Council Development Area, Ilogbo-Elegba, where offloading could start in earnest.
It was gathered that by 6pm on that day, the community residents – children, adults, women and men – had begun to troop out in numbers on hearing about the good news.
In order to avoid a stampede, the soldiers ordered the tumultuous crowd to go to their various homes to sleep, that the food items would be distributed the following day and reach every household, leaving the soldiers and some community leaders behind to to keep vigil on the foodstuffs.
However, a source, revealed to our correspondent that around 1am, voices and noises were heard, followed by a commotion in the vicinity. “By that time, the soldiers guarding the trucks had gone”, the source stated.
According to him, “I came out to see what was happening and saw that the foodstuffs were being hijacked by irate youths and some community members.”
He continued, “I discovered that the soldiers had left, leaving only the policemen from the Ilogbo Elegba Police Station there to guard the foodstuffs.
“Instead of guarding the place and dispersing the looters, I saw the policemen loading their patrol vehicles with bags of foodstuff, which they conveyed to an unknown destination, at least five times before they became satisfied.”
When our corresponent inquired further why the security of the food items became so porous, it was learned that no sooner had the soldiers left than people started arriving with trucks, buses, and other vehicles to forcefully take the foodstuff to their various homes, claiming to represent different communities.
The atmosphere later became a free-for-all in the dead of night as ordinary community members, upon realizing that the foodstuffs might not reach them, joined the fray and started the looting spree.
Confirming the development, another witness who simply mentioned his first name as Tunde, spoke with our correspondent, “Before I left the venue, I struggled to get a bag of rice and a bag of garri for my family. I know someone who loaded more than 80 bags of food items in a truck claiming they would share them in the community, but they haven’t done so yet.”
Another eyewitness who confirmed the looting incident to our correspondent is Mr Kunle Rabiu, who claimed to be the Youth leader of Abule Oje. He said he was one of the youths struggling to retrieve the looted items so that they could get to those poor people who actually needed them.
According to Rabiu, “It is an irony that the police who were supposed to curb such a criminal act were actually one of the culprits. More unfortunate is the fact that the government will have a good intention to alleviate our suffering, but we poor people will still sabotage the government’s efforts out of greed.”
He added that the CDA Chairman of his own community, Abule Oje, Chief Jagunmolu was not a party to such an ugly incident.
“The Abule CDA chairman, Chief Jagunmolu was one of those who made efforts to get the food back from the looters and redistribute them to the poor people, but those behind it made the effort fruitless.” Rabiu lamented.
Speaking to our correspondent on the incedent a resident of Ilogbo Elegba, who identified himself as Pastor Bolaji, and was standing in front of the townhall where the looting reportedly took place volunteered and took our correspondent to the house of the Ilogbo Elegba CDA Secretary, named Razaaq, confirmed the looting.
However, Razaaq denied that there was ever any looting in the town.
According to him, “The CDC Chairman officially came to receive the trucks with the palliative food intact and then signed the waybill. In fact, I was one of those who arranged how the food got to those who needed them.”
AHR feelers indicate that Some residents are still waiting to be called upon by their CDA community leaders to receive their own portion of the palliative.
One of the residents told AHR his neighbor was lucky to have got five bags of rice.
When AHR called the Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, Mr Benjamin Hundeiyin on the phone for his reaction over the allegation indicting the police, he replied with a text message that the newspaper should direct its enquiries to the Police Complaint Response.
The PPRO provided some phone numbers to call for clarifications.
AHR dialed one of the numbers, 08090277712, a female police officer responded to the enquiry that the police were not aware of the incident.
Also, contacted for his reaction, was Mr Gbenga Omotoso, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information. The commissioner simply replied with this message on his WhatsApp: “Good morning. I’m not aware of any such incident. We give security so much priority when we move such materials. Please, recheck your facts.”
As of the time of filing this report, the Lagos State government has neither issued any official written statement on the issue nor spoken about it, leaving a lot of people in quandary.
The looting has created worries about the ongoing distribution of over 740 trucks of rice to the 36 states and FCT by the federal government, AHR has learnt.
The federal government has commenced the distribution of 20 trucks of rice to each state governor, as well as FCT Minister, aimed at addressing the current economic hardship.
