Governor Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau State has stated that the cause of the recent looting of warehouses and destruction of public properties in the state goes beyond hunger saying those behind the dastardly act have ulterior motives.
The governor who disclosed this, on Tuesday, when the National Assembly members from the state visited him said apart from COVID-19 palliatives, personal houses of people were vandalised while goverment properties were destroyed by the hoodlums.
He said: “The lootings cannot be attributed to hunger, if it is hunger how come only two out of the seventeen Local Government Areas of the state were affected. I don’t think it is normal. There’s a motive behind all these, there are those who travel from some kilometres to go and destroy other people’s properties in another place.”
Governor Lalong who pointed out that those arrested will be prosecuted and the prosecution will serve as a deterrent to others who might want to follow similar footsteps in the future.
“If we don’t persecute those arrested now, others may want to do similar thing in the future. Others involved would be fish out by the security agencies and be prosecuted accordingly. I don’t subscribe to the notion that they should not be prosecuted,” he said.
He challenged those in leadership positions to have the courage of telling the young ones the truth adding that those behind the #EndSARS protest regretted because hoodlums hijacked the protest and messed up the whole thing.
According to him, the purpose of the looting was to cripple the economy of the state and the looting was massive because some of the stakeholders did not address and appeal to their subjects as directed during the last stakeholders meeting held with the goverment recently.
Speaking earlier, the Deputy Speaker House of Representatives, Hon Idris Maje Wase, said the unfortunate development had taken Plateau State backwards and called on the youths in the state to embrace peace and eschew any act that might cause a setback to the state.
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According to him, the issues raised by #EndSARS protesters were not caused by the present administration adding that the demands were age-long problems probably dated back to the colonial era.
“The National Assembly is addressing the problems, most of the issues raised by these young ones were not caused by the present administration, they can be traced to the colonial era. But as leaders, we cannot shy away from the issues raised, we strongly believe in the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari and all the issues will be tackled.
“What is going on is not acceptable, the food items carted away from those warehouses were kept to address emergency situation. COVID-19 is not yet gone, it is not out of the country completely. The magnitude of looting and destruction is a bad thing for Plateau State and it is capable of scaring investors away,” he said.
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