A middle-aged woman identified as Agnes on Sunday in Abakaliki lost the pot of rice she was cooking to thieves.
A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent who visited Agnes’s
residence behind Nnodo Secondary School, Amike-Aba on Monday reports
that she was still in shock over the incident.
It took repeated appeals by the correspondent to make Agnes talk, as she
maintained that her husband had barred her from speaking further on the
issue to avoid negative attention to the family.She said
“I came back from a village-meeting late on Sunday and put the rice on
fire so that my family could have their dinner and eat the remnant on
Monday morning.
“This apartment, as you can see, has no kitchen so we
cook in the space in front of the house, likewise other occupants of
the building,” she said.
Agnes said that as she went inside her room to fetch some condiments,
she was delayed by the attention she had to give to her crying child.
“I gave attention to my child who was crying and by the time I came out
to continue cooking, the pot of rice had vanished, with the stove still
enkindled.“After I recovered from the shock, I started screaming which
attracted my husband, family members and neighbours who were all as
stupefied.
“When it was established that no occupant of the building
took the pot, it dawned on us that the act was perpetrated by a thief
who exploited the vulnerability of the improvised kitchen,” she said.
The woman declined further comments but her neigbour, Justin Mbam-Egbe,
noted that the situation had re-awakened security consciousness among
the occupants of the house.
A private security consultant in Abakaliki, Dr John Odikwa, blamed such
incident on the current economic recession in the country.
“The country has degenerated to a level that people now steal pots of
rice and soup and with the yuletide approaching, the society should be
ready for serious security challenges.“The Federal Government should
take immediate measures to alleviate the sufferings of the people to
prevent total breakdown of law and order,” he said.