Meanwhile the Kebbi State Government has said that all the looted warehouses located at the Kara Market, belonged to the Birnin Kebbi Local Government Area.
Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Alhaji Shehu Mu’azu, confirmed this at a press conference after the emergency state executive meeting, presided by the Deputy Governor Senator Umar Abubakar.
He disclosed that the state government had distributed all the palliatives meant for the people, and stressed that the looted grains, and bags of rice belonged to the Dangote Foundation.
Mu’azu said the Dangote Foundation state Coordinator had admitted that they have made mistake for not earlier informing the security agencies about their palliative distribution in the state.
According to him, “For us, it’s took us eight days to distribute all our palliatives and there was no incidence of violence during our distribution. It is a bit surprised to us that vandals invaded warehouses and carted away goods belongs to people.
“I want to put it on record that the Ministry of Agriculture, which is the custodian of the grains reserved for the Kebbi State has distributed all the grains to the people, not a single grain given to us was carted away. As a state, we have distributed all our palliatives as planned. And to the glory of God, all the distribution committees collected their grains without any incident.
“The looted grains belong to the Dangote Foundation. Dangote, out of benevolence, wanted to give succour to Nigerians, including the people of Kebbi State.
“Unfortunately, the distribution of the palliatives by the state coordinator was poorly planned. Poorly planned in the sense that none of the security agencies in the state was aware considering the magnitude of the programme.
“It is not the fault of Aliko Dangote, but the problem is from the state coordinator in Kebbi State. As a state, we really appreciated the efforts of Dangote for trying to bring succour to our people.
“However, we are not part of what had happened. So, the grains that were carted away belong to Birnin Kebbi Local Government Council. They took almost 80 percent of their palliative to Kara Market warehouse. The Council was given 7,200 bags of grains and out of this number, 2,100 bags were siphoned,” he said.
Mu’azu added that all the warehouses of the state government remained intact, stressing that the 13-man committee set up by the state government to reveal the cause of the vandalisation would soon start sitting.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Information and Cultures, Alhaji Yakubu Ahmed, said the state government had set up 13 man Committee to investigate what actually transpired at Kara Market warehouses.