Controversies have trailed the sudden disappearance of 71 trailers of rice and other grains allocated to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Adamawa State by the Federal Government to ameliorate the hardship faced by victims of insurgency in the state.
According to reports, 71 trailer loads of grains actually arrived the state only for the items to develop wings two days after the Deputy Governor, Mr. Martins Babale, flagged off the ceremony marking the distribution of the consignment, without getting to the IDP camps or to those that had returned home.
A member of the State House of Assembly, Mr. Emmanuel Tsamdu, said reports from his constituency community leaders confirmed that only 250 bags of 50kg of rice got to Madagali, as against the two trailers of 600 bags of 50kg per one trailer load.
Tsamdu urged the Federal Government to immediately set up a committee to investigate what he described as the worse crime against humanity and corrupt behaviour.
Guardian newspaper revealed that Madagali local council, that was the worse hit due to its closeness to Sambisa forest, was allocated only two trailers of rice. When contacted the District Head of Guluk, headquarters of Madagali council, Mr. Bello Ichadi, disclosed that only five district heads of the council received 50 bags of 25kg rice, making a total of 250bags for the entire Madagali council.
It was also discovered that while the rice and other grains were packaged in 50kg bags, the few bags given to the Madagali Chiefs were in 25kg bags, indicating that there was rebagging of the grains by those charged with the distribution.
