Many residents on Tuesday broke into the warehouse of the Global Food Initiative in Odi-Olowo, Osogbo, Osun State, and looted food items stored by the operators of the scheme.
The incident came after residents who had paid for cheap food items were left stranded when the operators failed to open their office on Monday.
One resident, Mistura, said she paid N300,000 last Wednesday for 11 bags of rice at N27,000 each. She said the same quantity would have cost N605,000 at the market price of N55,000 per bag.
Another investor, Olamide, said she paid N1.2m for food items meant for her stepdaughter’s wedding.
“I got here this morning and met a crowd waiting to be attended to, but the operators were nowhere to be found. I was warned, but I never thought they would run away this early. The items I paid for were to be used for my stepdaughter’s wedding ceremony,” she said.
Residents returned to the office on Tuesday and waited for the operators, but they did not show up.
Despite appeals from the building owner to remain calm while security agents worked to identify the operators and recover the money, the crowd refused to leave.
Around 4pm, some people forced their way into the warehouse and took bags of rice, noodles and groundnut oil.
The looting continued despite heavy rain, while a few police officers struggled to control the crowd.
Security agents later fired canisters as the looting continued.
