No fewer than seven people reportedly died while trying to buy rice from the Nigeria Customs Service on Friday, February 23, 2023.
According to a video posted on X by a user simply identified as @BishopPOEvang, the remains of the alleged victims were seen being taken into a Toyota Sienna car.
Captioning the video, “We have 7 confirmed dead bodies; people who were trying to get food to eat because of the hardship in the land died trying to,” it was alleged that the victims died at the scene of the ongoing sale of confiscated bags of rice by the Nigeria Customs Service.
Though the cause of their deaths remains sketchy, it is alleged that they died as a result of a stampede at the venue of the sale.
The venue of the sale of the confiscated rice, which was filled to the brim, had Legosians trooping in their numbers to purchase the item at a subsidised rate.
Chronicle NG reports that the Nigeria Customs Service announced on Friday the commencement of the sale of conspicuous food items to Nigerians in a bid to reduce the ongoing hardship in the country.
Making the announcement, the Controller General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, noted that the sale was in tune with President Bola Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda to lift Nigerians out of hunger and hardship.
Adeniyi, speaking to the press in Lagos on Thursday, cautioned that the seized food products would not be resold.
Adeniyi further stated that customs officers were prohibited from participating in the exercise and that the rice would be sold in 25-kg bags for N10,000.
This saw Legosians trooping in their numbers to make purchases of the item, leading to the alleged deaths of seven people.
At the time of filing this report, the NCS had yet to comment on the incident.
