The Benue State Government on Wednesday said ongoing investigation into its palliatives found in Kano State revealed the involvement of some Makurdi traders in the deal.
Police in Kano State had few months ago paraded food commodity branded in Benue COVID-19 package, a development which has now gone viral on social media, prompting the Benue state government to react.
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State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Orientation, Ngunan Addingi, said on behalf of government that investigation by the police in Benue into the matter began soon after the deal was uncovered.
Addingi said the government was speaking now because preliminary investigation into the matter showed that the palliatives found in Kano were those distributed to the Wurukum Market Traders Association in Makurdi.
“It’s a matter that has been under investigation since it was discovered that the palliatives given to Benue were sold in Kano. The investigation showed that the chairman of Wurukum Market Traders Association, Alhaji Abdullahi Yusuf collected the palliatives for his members instead of them using it, they sold it in the market.
“Though the incident was not a recent one because government shared the palliatives soon after receiving; some of the palliative given to Wurukum traders through their chairman who is from Kano State were sold out as according to them, they needed the money more than the items,” she said.
The commissioner who was corroborated by the State’s Security Adviser, Col. Paul Hemba (rtd) and the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Anthony Ijihor, recalled that the state government had extended the palliatives gesture to the traders occasioned because of the hardship they suffered during the five months lockdown that their shops did not open for sales because markets were closed.
She said though the police was still continuing the investigation on the matter, the said traders’ chairman has been arrested since security operatives linked him to the case.
She added that because of the trending video on social media, it became imperative to debunk the narration as the state government has not kept back any palliatives it ever received.
