• Wednesday, June 26, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

Looters cart away 9 trailers of rice, beans from Zeenab Foods – MD

Looters

The Managing Director of Zeenab Foods Limited, Victor Ayemere, has raised the alarm over large scale looting by hoodlums from the factory during the EndSARS protests.

In a chat with journalists, Ayemere lamented that the hoodlums invaded the warehouses under the guise of searching for government palliatives and looted nine trailers load of rice and beans.

The factory is located at plot 252 Cadastral zone C16 Idu industrial layout, Idu, Abuja.

Recounting the ordeal, he said the hoodlums stormed the factory and looted not just the food items but anything on sight worth several millions of naira.

Zeenab foods limited is a food processing and production company. It processes food commodities such as rice, beans, sorghum, millet, and others for the Nigerian local market.

The General Manager of Zeenab Foods, Charles Idubor, who spoke on behalf of the MD, said it was the most horrific and devastating experience the company has had since inception.

Idubor said trouble began Sunday night when the hoodlums numbering about 200 stormed the factory and started looting rice and beans from the warehouses.

“We, therefore, called on the police who later came to drive off the hoodlums after much resistance that night and some were arrested in the process.

“The next day, our Chairman was on the ground along with other senior management staff to assess the damage and around 9:45am more hoodlums numbering over 300 gathered to our dismay at the front of our factory.

“Several efforts of dialogue by our management to calm them down and make them understand that this factory has already been looted and for them to show mercy proved abortive.

“A joint task force of military men and the police soon arrived at the premises in close to 10 Hilux vans and tried to calm these hoodlums down yet it proved abortive.

“The hoodlums broke into the factory again, they didn’t loot only rice and beans this time around but started carrying equipment, office chairs, tables, air conditioners, electric motors, armoured cables, tools and vandalized doors and glass windows.”

The company appealed to the Federal Government for assistance and support in order to resume business.