"What we lost is estimated at over N5 billion. Two containers from China and two and a half containers from Turkey that arrived recently were looted."
One week after hoodlums turned the #EndBadGovernance protest into an orgy of looting and vandalism in Kano State, the owners of the affected businesses and properties are counting their losses.
A food store established as a charity by Mariya Dantata, the mother to Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, was one of the many stores looted during the protest in Kano.
The protest started on 1 August across Nigeria but resulted in the disruption of economic activities, wanton destruction of properties, mass looting and loss of lives in some states.
The protest organisers demanded reducing the size and cost of governance, reducing the prices of food, petrol, housing, and electricity, lowering interest rates, and checking insecurity. However, hoodlums hijacked the protests in many northern cities.
They looted government and private stores, shopping centres, a yet-to-be-commissioned facility of the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) in Kano and the headquarters of the state's High Court, amongst other places.
Some residents of Sarari in Dala Local Government Area, where Mrs Dantata's charity food store was looted, recounted to PREMIUM TIMES how hoodlums invaded the area.
A resident, Kanzillahi Nasiru, said the looters, armed with dangerous weapons, arrived in the area from another community and headed straight to the store. They chased away the guards and dismantled a CCTV camera before looting the store.
"I saw the looters dismantle a surveillance camera opposite the food store. They met the gate of the store open and started looting sugar and flour. Other sets of looters later came and started dragging bags of maise and millet," Mr Nasiru said.
"This camera that you are seeing, the looters dismantled it before it was later relocated to this higher position on pole wire. My elder brother advised me to remain indoors. I later heard gunshots and tear gas (canisters being fired by the police). The police later arrived and dispersed the hoodlums."
Mr Nasiru said the looters operated freely in Sarari because the local youth had gone to join the #EndBadGovernance protest in the city.
Another resident, Abdulsalam Muhammad, known in the area as Source, said his mother warned him not to participate in the protest.
He said he also witnessed the looters invade and loot Mrs Dantata's charity food store.
"When I heard a noise outside, I came out and saw people in clusters lamenting that some aliens had looted the Hajiya Mariya charity food store.
"There was nothing we could do because the looters were armed. We watched and saw them leave with looted items before the arrival of the police.
"We are sad because she has been helping the less privileged for over three decades. The looted food store is for the destitute. She is the only philanthropist in Kano whose gesture has reached homes, feeding the needy with cooked food every day, yet she was not spared," Mr Muhammad said.
Owners of shopping malls count losses
Other private properties and shopping malls looted by the marauding hoodlums include Rufaidah Yoghurt, Sahad and Barakat stores.
An official of Barakat Stores, Muhammad Sani, estimated the business's losses at N5 billion. He said about 300 workers lost their jobs following the attack.
Mr Sani said the hoodlums overpowered the security officials and looted one of their stores at Lodge Road, opposite the Government House in Kano.
"I was told of the security breach in the store, but by the time I arrived, the damage had been done. They looted it from the back despite a security wire fence.
"What we lost is estimated at over N5 billion. Two containers from China and two and a half containers from Turkey that arrived recently were looted.
"They looted 1,000 cartons of vegetable oil, which we have not even paid for. It was delivered three days earlier. Other goods we brought from Lagos, about 30 vans. The looted store is the central store; we dispatched goods to the other stores from there.
"Our newly acquired distribution van, bought at N15 million, was razed," Mr Sani narrated.
He, however, commended security agents who recovered some looted items he listed as flour, noodles, oil and others.
Food store at Qur'anic school looted
In the Gandun Albasa area of Kano, a charity school established for the recitation of the Qur'an by Shehu Sagagi, the chief of staff to Governor Abba Yusuf, was also looted.
Residents said the school has about 120 students, the majority of whom are orphans and less privileged. At the school, students learn to memorise and recite the Qur'an.
Some residents and parents of the school children who spoke on a Radio programme, Rigar Kaya, said the hoodlums avoided the main road while escaping with their loot from the school's food store.
A mother with three children in the school said the attack may end her children's school attendance because she cannot send them elsewhere if the owner closed the school because of the incident.
The parents and guardians urged Mr Sagagi not to close the school.
A woman narrated how her daughter won a prize of N5,000 and a copy of a Qur'an last week after she returned first in a school competition.
School owner speaks
On the radio programme, Mr Sagagi said he established the school in 1992 to help children of the poor in the community. He promised not to be discouraged by the looting experience.
The politician accused his political opponents of spreading a rumour that he used the school to hoard rice bought by the government for distribution to the most vulnerable in the society as a palliative for the economic hardships in Nigeria.
"I am a well-known farmer and feed the students from my farm produce. The office of the Secretary to the State Government and other persons also donated food to the school. The food items were kept in a room of 10 by 12 metres, but some people, for political reasons, portrayed it as if it were a warehouse.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"These children have a right to be fed and are given breakfast and lunch daily. This school predated this administration. I have been feeding them, but people are always looking for the negative and spreading the falsehood that they intercepted rice from my house.
"Those spreading the news failed to report that the looters stole the submersible pump for the school's borehole, stole the ceiling fans and destroyed the school's doors," Mr Sagagi lamented.
Court exhibits looted
The hoodlums also looted the headquarters of the State High Court and carted away records and other essentials kept as exhibits at the store.
A senior court official told PREMIUM TIMES off the record on Friday that the rioters broke into the court's store and stole items kept as exhibits in ongoing cases. These include money and guns recovered from suspected kidnappers.
"Official and private vehicles parked at the premises of the State High Court were set afire or vandalised by the protesters. Offices in the state high court headquarters were also vandalised," the official said.
"The (protesters) destroyed new and old case files. They scattered everything in the buildings. Case exhibits, including guns kept in the court's store, were also looted. Some of the burned vehicles parked at the court premises are exhibits in an ongoing case," the official said, asking not to be identified by name because he was not authorised to speak to journalists on the issue.
