#COVID-19 palliative: NSCDC foils attempt to vandalise 5th warehouse in Benin

The dexterity of men of the Nigeria Army and Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC, on Saturday, saved another warehouse house from being burgled by angry youths in Benin City, Edo State capital.

The youths, who had earlier vandalised four warehouses in the city located at Medical Store Road, Sapele Road, Golf Course Road and a private warehouse at Eribo Estate, Textile Mills Road, successful, had attempted another privately owned  Osula warehouse, but were repelled by the NSCDC personnel drafted to secure the place.

Meanwhile, an unidentified young man was shot dead by security operatives and another girl injured, while attempting to loot one of the warehouses in Benin on Saturday.

The trio, Tribune Online gathered, were shot at the Medical Store Road, Uselu.

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A 30-second video in circulation showed the lifeless body of the young man on the floor, the young lady on what looked like a hospital bed and another young man nursing a bullet wound on his leg.

“Live bullet, see, he is gone. We no dey hungry, we no dey hungry. Look at him, he is gone, because of rice, because of rice. Se am, see person way he miss bullet, se am”, the narrators in the video were heard saying.

The Osula warehouse, according to checks, is believed to be owned by Osula Foundation. The proximity of the warehouse to the Headquarters of the  4th Brigade of the Nigeria Army, and the Government House, Benin City, notwithstanding, the daring youths in the hundreds, emboldened by their earlier successful operations, had attempted a 5th chance on the facility.

The NSCDC personnel, assisted by some soldiers, cordoned off the area, just as the youths were seen standing at a distance, mapping out ways to break the security barricade, same way Medical Storw Road fell in the morning, with the rampaging youths  boasting that “na we dey run things”, a Benin street lingo which means ” we are in charge”.

Believing that the food items stored in the warehouse belonged  to them and should be allowed to pick them, one of the army of looters, told journalists that it was wrong to invite the military to a purely civil matter.

The youth, who pleaded anonymity described the presence of the armed personnel in that vicinity as “uncivil and undemocratic.”

The looting attitude of the youths is a negation of the outcome of the Thursday meeting between Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State and some youths, drawn from civil organisations, where the governor, pleaded with the restive youths to embrace peace and dialogue, with the assurance that government would fast track the processes of acceding to their demands.
NIGERIAN TRIBUNE