Femi Adesina courts controversy saying warehouse looters are not hungry or angry people

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari's spokesman Femi Adesina has increased the political temperature in the country by alleging that looters of warehouses across Nigeria were not hungry or angry but are just criminals taking advantage of the collapse in law and order.

Last Tuesday, Nigerian Army troops opened fire on unarmed protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate, killing several of them. This cold blooded murder sparked a national outrage across the country and people have since taken to the streets, setting fire to public buildings and looting warehouses, shops and the homes of the wealthy.

Over the last week, warehouses have become a prime target as hungry hoards have been attacking them to lay their hands on stored Covid-19 palliatives. These food items were supposed to have been distributed to members of the public but were being hoarded and angry mobs have been carting them away.

Dismissing the actions of the protesters, however, Mr Adesina said the collapse of law and order in the country was as a result of a protracted protest by Nigerian youths. He countered Amnesty International’s report on what led to the nationwide looting, waving away suggestions that the masses were angry with the perceived corruption behind the hoarding.

Mr Adesina said: “This crowd of people you see going to loot are not necessarily hungry and angry. They are taking advantage of the collapse of law and order that came as a result of protracted protests. Amnesty International is wrong.

“Anarchy has broken loose before even Lekki as the prisons in Benin and Oko had been broken before Lekki, Orile police station had been burnt before Lekki and many policemen had been burnt before Lekki, so you cannot say that Lekki precipitated all those things. Check when those things happened you’ll see that they had happened before Lekki."

He added that Amnesty International does not have all the facts as they do not run Nigeria and do not know more than what they have been told. "Certain things, criminal in nature, had happened before Lekki and to say Lekki precipitated it is not quite right,” Mr Adesina added.