Buhari orders arrest of officials diverting IDP’s relief materials

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the police to arrest government officials accused of stealing food aid intended for victims of Boko Haram in the North-east Nigeria, the president’s spokesman said yesterday.

Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, disclosed that the president had ordered the Inspector General of police to catch some of the alleged thieves and make public examples of them.

Recently the senate had recently launched an investigation into allegations of food aid being stolen and sold by state officials in Borno State,.

The issue became serious when photos posted on social media appeared to show food aid on sale in shops.

Hundreds of people displaced by Boko Haram militants last week left their camps to stage a protest in Maiduguri, Borno’s capital, to demand more aid, accusing officials of stealing food rations. They said the government should give them the food directly rather than through the state-run feeding committees.

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However, the government of Borno State dismissed the allegations of theft, and said they were politically motivated ahead of general and presidential elections in 2019.

They said it’s practically difficult to divert food, adding that the international aid agencies involved in the distribution of aid would have spoken out if they had noticed any wrongdoing.