Looters Alert: House-To-House Search to Begin 7 am Wednesday As Fintiri's 12 Hours Ultimatum Elapses 6 am

Daily Rendezvous

- Arrests 155 Looters, Impound 12 Tricycles of Loot

The Adamawa state governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, said he would sign an executive order for a house-to-house search for looted goods after his 12 hours Ultimatum elapse at 6am Wednesday.

Fintiri said, homes found harbouring Looters and looted properties, could have their Certificate of Occupancy revoked and risked having homes demolished.

This is contained in an official state broadcast made by the governor on Tuesday in Yola, Adamawa state.

Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri said, he has issued a 12 hour ultimatum to Looters in the state to return all properties carted away, explaining that after the grace period of 12 hours which elapse at 6am Wednesday, he would sign an executive order for a house-to-house search by security and any home harbouring looted properties would have its C of O revoked.

Fintiri notes that about 155 Looting suspects are already in police custody, 12 Tricycles loaded with looted goods have been impounded, and 9 stolen vehicles have been recovered.

Fintiri said, "We condemn in strong terms the outright demonstration of brigandage as barbaric, criminal and a recipe for anarchy.

"As a responsible government, we cannot fold our hands, while criminals are trying to take over our society.

"We are working round the clock to ensure that peace is returned to our society.

"Working with the security agencies, we have activated the necessary instrument for a return to normalcy and arrest of the looters.

"So far, our efforts is yielding result, relative peace is returning as no new attack has been reported in the last 24hrs.

"Arrest have been made so far, 155 suspects are in police custody, 9 Vehicles and 12 tricycles loaded with the loot have also been impounded.

"On this note, I assure every resident of the State of our continuous commitment to the protection of their lives and properties. Consequently, I am giving a 12 hour ultimatum (6:00 pm – 6:00 am) to the hoodlums to return whatever they looted from public and private warehouses and homes to the nearest Police Station and traditional rulers house (from the ward to the district level), whichever is nearest to them.

"This ultimatum will expire at 6:00 am on Wednesday, 28th – October, 2020, after which I will sign an Executive Order for a house-to-house search to commence by 7:00 am of the same day.

"Part of the provision of the order is a sanction that will attract withdrawal of C of O and if necessary, demolition of every house that habours any of the Stolen properties.

"Law abiding citizens should cooperate with the Security agencies to ensure this is enforced to the later. "

Appealing for calm and apologising to the public over the hardship the curfew and looting might cause he said, "As a Government, we take full responsibility for all the hardship attendant upon by the curfew era on decent and hardworking citizens.

"The other two categories of people I greatly owe apologies to, are the vulnerable especially at the 21 LGAs who would have been the beneficiaries of the looted goods but were denied because of the activities of the hoodlums; and the owners of the private warehouses, shops and properties looted. I truly feel your pain."

Giving details into the amount of destruction caused by the looters he said, "Whatever charity one confers on the description of the perpetrators of this heinous act, they can’t be anything short of criminals.

"Once the warehouses are emptied, the next destination as already manifest in the last two days, are private businesses and individuals’ homes.

"I received briefings from relevant stakeholders on the level of havoc rendered in the last two days.

"With shock, we received the report of attacks on the Customs Office, Road Safety, Primary Healthcare Development Agency, NEMA office, COVID-19 Isolation Centre at Kofare, North East Commodity Association (NECAS) Kofare, public and private warehouses in Demsawo, Nyako Quarters, opposite airport, behind Zenith bank, bakin kogi, Mayanka, Upper Benue, AADP, LEA, Yola South, Red Cross opposite FMC, Aliyu Mustafa College; Belel’s workshop, Private farms, etc.

"we are still taking stock of extent of loot and damages to properties of government and private entities.

"The loss is materially colossal but more enormous is the loss of moral values driven by greedy criminal urge to steal."

Speaking on the efforts of the state government in curbing youth restiveness he said, "As a government, we saw this coming, right from inception, we knew no government can take all the army of the youths into its employment.

"Even if it can, in this age of enterprise creativity and entrepreneurship, it is the dumbest decision to take. We therefore created the Ministry of Entrepreneurship to build the capacity of our investments and manage them successfully.

"We are training many youths who are willing to be off the street and creating enabling environment for SMEs to thrive.

"We have advertised for employment of 2000 teachers for secondary schools in the State. I urge qualified candidates to take advantage and collect employment forms free from any zonal office close to them

"We have been doing our best in the development of the State, especially with the Adamawa peace project.

"This indeed is a major setback. With your support we shall overcome it.

"Fellow Citizens of Adamawa State, today, 27th October, is my birthday. The best gift you can give me on a day like this is a commitment to making Adamawa peaceful."