The executive secretary of Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Sir James Iorpuu, has disclosed that any staff of the agency fingered in the recent diversion of food items meant for Ichwa Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Camp will face the wrath of the law.
This is even as three staff members of the agency are already in police custody in connection with the alleged diversion of two trucks of assorted food materials meant for distribution to Ichwa Internally Displaced Persons Camp, Uni-Agric road Makurdi.
Sir Iorpuu explained what happened in an interview with our correspondent: “We were expecting a UN delegation alongside the ambassador of Germany and the Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia. We set up a committee to coordinate the visit, and in the meeting, it was resolved that they would visit the Ichwa IDP camp. Some food items will be sent to the camp even though we have yet to commence our monthly food distribution across camps.”
According to him, ” Two trucks of assorted food items comprising of 250 bags of rice,60 bags of beans, 100 bags of garri, 200 cartons of noodles, 15 gallons of 20 litres red and ground-nut oil, sugar among other food items were among the items to be distributed to Ichwa IDPs.”
Iorpuu continued, “However, I was in a meeting where the governor called and drew my attention that part of the food items meant for the IDPs was diverted to one house in North Bank, and I quickly rushed to the camp and saw a few items displayed for onward sharing, and I asked the camp manager where the remaining food items were kept, and he said that was the only items he received.”
He said, “I asked him to bring the waybill he signed to collect the food items, and to my surprise, what went out of the warehouse was exactly what he signed and collected. On our way back to my office for further investigation, I saw one of my staff in front of a house by the roadside, and I asked my driver to turn back; on reaching there, we discovered the missing items off-loaded there.”
Sir Iorpuu enumerated the diverted food items, including 55 bags of rice, 24 bags of garri, noodles, and beans, among others, adding that the only thing they did not touch was sugar.
While commending the governor for his proactive action, Iorapuu said he wondered how the staff he is always defending would stoop so low in diverting the food meant for the IDPs, even as he said that he is not going to protect anybody involved in the diversion, whoever that is mentioned after police investigation justice will take its course.
