Many residents of Piwoyi, a village along Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Road in Abuja, were on Thursday morning injured when hoodlums hijacked relief materials sent to widows and the less privileged to cushion the effect of the lockdown.
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) had sent the items to the village as part of its corporate social responsibility.
Eyewitnesses told Nigerian Tribune that trouble started when some trucks arrived the village and the villagers assembled in the open filed where the items were to be distributed.
Suddenly, several categories of hoodlums were then said to mobilise and disrupted the entire process by using dangerous weapons while hijacking bags of rice, beans vegetable oil and noodles.
Many of the women and children who had earlier collected their share were attacked and the items seized from them.
Some of the women who spoke with Nigerian Tribune refused to give their names for fear of reprisal.
Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport Road is not long notorious for harbouring criminals.
Director of Corporate Communications of FIRS, Dr Abdulahi Ismaila Ahmed, confirmed that FIRS sent the materials to the village.
According to him, the community leaders gave the assurance that being close to the people, they had the mechanism to share the materials among the people amicably.
He noted that 120 kg of rice, 12 bags of beans, dozens of vegetable oil, dozens of cartons of noodles and seasoning cubes were delivered to the leaders.
Abdulahi said as soon as the items were received by the leaders, the FIRS entourage left.
Also speaking with Nigerian Tribune, station officer of Piwoyi police post, DSP Ozigi Balogun confirmed that the hoodlums invaded his station trying to destroy windows and doors in the erroneous belief that the items were stored in the place.
Balogun had to call for reinforcement from the Divisional Police Station, Lugbe before the invaders were dislodged.
By the time Nigerian Tribune got to the police post, however, calm had returned but evidence of the invasion abounds with fowls seen feasting on rice and beans scattered in the sand.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Buy and read digital replicas of your TRIBUNE titles by subscribing through E-VENDING
Make No Mistake, Coronavirus Will Be With Us For A Long Time, Says WHO DG
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Wednesday that he hoped the Trump administration would reconsider its suspension of funding, but that his main focus was on ending the pandemic and saving lives, Reuters reported… Read full story
COVID-19: Governors Adopt Two-Week Inter-State Lockdown • Call for decentralisation of COVID-19 response
The 36 state governors, on Wednesday, unanimously resolved to adopt a two-week inter-state lockdown as part of measures aimed at containing the spread of coronavirus across the country… Read full story
Covid-19: Chinese Treatment Of Africans
IN the wake of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic experience, China has treated African residents within its borders like scum. The situation has been so bad that it is actually difficult to believe that its previous investments in the continent had wholesome intentions. China’s inhuman and hostile disposition to Africans in China… Read full story
FG Bans Inter-State Movement Of COVID-19 Patients
The Federal Government has banned inter-state movement of Coronavirus (COVID-19) patients in the country. Dr Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health, said this on Wednesday in Abuja, at the Presidential Taskforce (PTF), briefing on COVID-19… Read full story
COVID-19: Fake News Purveyors To Be Sanctioned, Says Lai Mohammed
The Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said that purveyors of fake news would be apprehended and sanctioned. Mohammed said while fielding questions from newsmen at the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 daily press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja… Read full story
ASUU Kicks Against Submission Of BVN As Condition For Payment Of Withheld Two-Month Salaries
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says it has rejected the submission of Bank Verification Number (BVN) as a condition for payment of February and March withheld salaries of lectures… Read full story
FG Replies ASUU: No BVN, No Payment Of Withheld Salaries
The Federal Government on Wednesday insisted that members of the Academic Union of Universities (ASUU) will have to make their Banks Verification Number (BVN) available for the various vice-chancellors to validate before they would be paid their withheld February and March salaries… Read full story
World Bank Predicts Decline In Remittances To Nigeria, Other LIMCs
The World Bank has said that as a consequence of the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic, remittances to Nigeria and other low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are projected to fall by 19.7 per cent to $445 billion… Read full story
High Number Of Coronavirus Cases Evidence Of Community Spread, Says Presidential Task Force
The Presidential Task Force on the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has given reasons the number of infections in the country has shot up… Read full story
COVID-19: Kano Relaxes Lockdown For One Day
Kano State government has relaxed the ongoing lockdown in the state for one day, 6 am-12 pm tomorrow (Thursday). This is to allow residents to buy foodstuffs and other items for preparation of the forthcoming… Read full story
COVID-19: No Definite Time For Evacuation Of Nigerians In US, UK, China, Others, Says Foreign Affairs Minister
Nigerians resident in foreign countries but anxious to return home may have to wait for a longer time. Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, made the disclosure on Wednesday at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force to combat the coronavirus pandemic… Read full story
COVID-19, Malaria Double Danger This Rainy Season
The current COVID-19 pandemic has taken the spotlight in the news. Despite the seriousness of the situation, the rainy season is here and so is malaria. In 2018, malaria killed 405,000 people, most of them in Africa… Read full story
and then