Judex Okoro, Calabar
Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) warehouse has been gutted by fire and relief materials worth millions of naira destroyed.
Besides, hoodlums numbering over 20 carted away food and other materials meant for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state.
The inferno, which, started at about 9pm razed several bags of rice, beans, gallons of vegetable oil and red oil, cartons of biscuits, noodles and some building materials kept in the warehouse awaiting distribution.
Narrating how the incident happened, a staff of the agency, who gave his name as Andem Asuquo, said it looked mysterious as the warehouse has no electricity supply for over four years and wondered where the fire outbreak came from.
Asuquo said: “I cannot understand it because we don’t have electricity in this place, so how come fire gutted the warehouse? It looks like a film to us working here because we have not had power supply for about four years.
“I suspect sabotage by some disgruntled elements that are out to make money and destroy the agency. I can tell you this must be from within.”
He said some of the items burnt were just supplied by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) within the week and were expected to be distributed before the infernor happened.
He claimed that hoodlums who invaded the warehouse and stole some relief materials must have been behind the fire outbreak.
Assessing the extent of damage at the warehouse, Acting Director General of SEMA, Princewill Ayim, said the fire outbreak occurred at about 9pm on Saturday night.
Ayim said the items donated by NIMASA were to alleviate the plight of the IDPs in the state, adding that the agency had already distributed a majority of the items to the IDPs in Bakassi and had informed the leaders of the camps in Ogojo and Biase local governments that the agency was coming with relief materials for them.