Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa on Sunday declared a 24-hour curfew on the state with immediate effect.

The governor made the declaration in a statement by his chief press secretary, Humwashi Wonosikou, in Yola, the state capital.

The curfew followed wide-scale looting and attacks on citizens by hoodlums.

According to him, the situation has assumed a dangerous dimension as hoodlums in Yola attack people with machetes and break into business premises and homes, carting away property.

“With the curfew imposed, there will be no movement throughout the state,” said Mr Fintiri. “Only those on essential duties with valid identification would be permitted to move around during the period of the curfew.”

Mr Fintiri appealed to law-abiding residents to comply with the directive, warning that anyone caught contravening the order would be arrested and prosecuted.

Hundreds of hoodlums had broken into federal and state government storage facilities and looted food and non-food items in Yola.

Ladan Ayuba, head of operations at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), told journalists that the armed hoodlums looted bags of rice, maize, corn, beans, generators, wrappers, mattresses, and plastic buckets from the NEMA facility.

He said the hoodlums also vandalised and looted facilities at the recently reconstructed and furnished NEMA office.

A source also confirmed that the hoodlums who attempted to break into a silo but were unsuccessful later moved to attack other government storage facilities.

At least three hoodlums were believed to have died, while several others were arrested.

SP Suleiman Nguroje, the police public relations officer in Adamawa, confirmed the incident, saying the police and other security operatives have been deployed to protect critical assets and infrastructure.

(NAN)