OSUN RESIDENTS LOOT FOOD WAREHOUSE AFTER CHEAP FOOD SCHEME COLLAPSES

Residents of Osogbo, Osun State, on Tuesday looted a warehouse belonging to the Global Food Initiative after operators of a cheap food scheme reportedly disappeared with customers’ payments.

The incident occurred at the organisation’s office in the Odi-Olowo area of Osogbo, where residents had gathered after the operators failed to open for business.

Many of the affected residents had paid money in advance for food items being sold below prevailing market prices.

One resident, Mistura, said she paid N300,000 for 11 bags of rice at N27,000 per bag, compared with the prevailing market price of about N55,000 per bag.

Another resident, Olamide, said she paid N1.2m for various food items intended for her stepdaughter’s wedding ceremony.

The residents had initially gathered at the premises hoping the operators would return and provide the items they had paid for. However, tensions rose as the operators remained unavailable.

Despite appeals from the property owner for the crowd to remain calm and allow security agents to identify the operators and find ways to recover the deposited funds, some residents refused to leave.

At about 4pm, some people reportedly forced open the warehouse and began taking food items, including bags of rice, noodles and groundnut oil.

The looting continued despite heavy rainfall, while a small number of police officers at the scene struggled to control the crowd.

Security personnel reportedly fired canisters to disperse the residents as the situation remained tense at the time of filing the report.