It’s provocative to hoard COVID-19 relief materials, says Falana

Femi Falana, human rights lawyer, has asked all state governments to distribute COVID-19 relief materials stored in warehouses.

Speaking on Arise Television on Monday, the senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said it is a crime against humanity to hoard food items meant for the poor.

Falana said the government has to apologise to the people for neglecting them.

“No responsible government can deny that people were killed when you have not conducted an investigation,” he said.

“When the Lekki incident happened, ASCAB thought there has to be an investigation and we have begun. We are setting up our own independent panel with regards to the denials oozing out from the seats of power. We are going to get to the root of the matter. The facts will come out.

“The #EndSARS campaign was totally unnecessary if the government had taken Nigerian people seriously. There have been complaints over the years about extra-judicial killings, extortions, illegal arrest and detention of criminalization of innocent people. But nobody took the complaints seriously.

“It’s almost like a crime against humanity. Just like some public officers have diverted money meant for providing palliatives meant for people who have been displaced in their homes, internally displaced people

“Again, I want to appeal to warehouses, where palliatives have been stored, that have not been touched. I want to appeal to all state governments to emulate the Sokoto government. Please, go and distribute all the palliatives. How can a government hoard indomie? It’s intolerable. It’s provocative.

“Our government will have to apologise to the Nigerian people. Look at the crowds in Jos. How do you avoid stampedes? And stampedes have happened in some places. Lives have been lost needlessly.”

With the discovery of COVID-19 palliatives stored in warehouses, residents of some states across the country had broken into the facilities to loot the items.

Some of the states affected are Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, Plateau, Kaduna, Cross River, Oyo, Adamawa, Kogi, Taraba and Kwara.