Warehouses invasion: Police arrest 25 looters in Adamawa

• Police say the 25 suspects were picked up and the items they stole were recovered from them
• Police disclose that attention has shifted to enforcing the statewide curfew imposed by Governor Ahmadu Fintiri

25 persons have been arrested in connection with the invasion and looting of government-owned warehouses in Adamawa state on Sunday, police in the North East state have said.

Recall that some rampaging hoodlums and youths broke into the warehouses and private stores in Yola, the state capital, on Sunday afternoon and carted away food and non-food items kept in those facilities.

Addressing newsmen on the incident, Police Public Relations Officer SP Suleiman Nguroje said the 25 suspects were picked up and the items they stole were recovered from them.

He stated that the situation had been brought under control, noting that attention had shifted to enforcing the statewide curfew imposed by Governor Ahmadu Fintiri.

Fintiri had imposed the curfew in the afternoon, not only in Yola, where looting took place but across the whole state, saying it was necessary to enhance the effectiveness of efforts to stamp out the activities of hoodlums.

Nguroje said the state Commissioner of Police, Afolabi Babatola, who personally went into the streets to supervise compliance with the curfew, had to set up a task force to firm up compliance.

“Not quite satisfied with the initial level of compliance, the CP constituted a task force involving personnel from the operations department and sister agencies,” Nguroje said, assuring that the curfew was now fully in place.

In a related development, the Yola area office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has been confirmed as one of the establishments affected by the Sunday morning looting in Yola.

The Yola area head of operations of the agency, Ladan Ayuba, who addressed newsmen alongside the police PRO, said the hoodlums accessed the stores of the agency by breaking down the walls and taking away food and non-food items kept there.

“It’s sad because the items in those stores were meant to be distributed to poor Nigerians to cushion the hardship they are facing,” he said.