Residents of Osogbo, the Osun State capital, on Tuesday reportedly stormed and looted a warehouse belonging to a food investment scheme amid heavy rainfall and police gunshots.
The incident followed growing concerns among investors in the Global Food Initiative scheme, after the company allegedly failed to open its office on Monday, leaving several investors unable to access their investments.
The development had prompted investors to gather at the company’s office and warehouse in an attempt to recover food items linked to their investments.
Some of the investors returned to the premises as early as 8am on Tuesday, hoping to meet the scheme’s operators. However, they reportedly met personnel of the Amotekun Corps who had been deployed to maintain order.
The investors remained at the premises until around 4pm, when the security operatives reportedly left the area.
Later in the evening, as heavy rain fell, some hoodlums allegedly broke into the warehouse and opened its doors, allowing a large number of people to enter and remove food items.
Residents from Egbetedo, Odi-Olowo, Fagbewesa, Asubiaro and surrounding communities were said to have rushed to the warehouse.
They reportedly carted away 50kg bags of rice, 50-litre containers of vegetable oil, spaghetti, semovita, beverages and other food products.
Police operatives later arrived at the scene and reportedly fired shots into the air in an attempt to disperse the crowd.
However, the gunshots did not immediately stop the looting, as more residents allegedly joined the rush to take away items from the warehouse.
One of the investors, a woman identified simply as Nike, was reportedly seen carrying a 50-litre container of vegetable oil.
Nike said she had invested more than N300,000 in the scheme and was attempting to recover part of her investment through the food items.
“I can only struggle to pick this. Some hoodlums who never invested in the scheme were stealing bags of rice as well as vegetable oil, and I can’t just watch my money disappear like that,” she said.
The situation also reportedly created another opportunity for criminals to target investors who succeeded in taking items out of the warehouse.
Some hoodlums allegedly threatened investors with axes and cutlasses and forced them to surrender food items they had collected.
The arrival and intervention of the police reportedly helped prevent the incident from escalating into a larger crisis.
By the time the situation was brought under control, the warehouse had reportedly been emptied of its food items.
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