Northern onion sellers suspend shipments to the southeast

Onions sellers in the northern region have withhold selling onions to the south-east until further notice, the BBC reports.

The development happened after suspected members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) hijacked two onion trucks and sold them to locals for N9,000 per bag instead of N15,000 over the weekend.

Alhaji Halilu Muhammad, Secretary of the Onion Dealers Association of Nigeria to the south-east of the country told the BBC their decision to withdraw onion shipments to the region stays until further notice.

Security forces responded and clashed with the crowd suspected of carrying out the attack but Hallilu said, they lost onion produce worth more than 13 million naira.

A day after the attack, Halilu Mohammed had an granted an Interview with DailyTrust, he narrated how suspected members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) attacked and confiscated two trucks transporting onions to the eastern part of the country.

He said, “there were two trucks conveying onions from Kano State. These people stopped the vehicles and seized the drivers and the vehicles and they later drove the vehicles to one side where they ransacked and sold all the onions before we could get the security agencies to get to the area”.

When asked about the identity of persons who carried out the attacks, he noted, “Of course they were Biafran militants (IPOB), who were marching with their flags. They carried out the attack, looted the goods and sold each and every of the onions conveyed in the vehicle”.

In his explanation, “The attack was carried out at the market where these vehicles were stopped and ransacked.  They gave out a price and sold each bag of the onions at the price of N9,000 and went away with the money. Before security agencies arrived, they have already sold out all the onions in one vehicle. It was after security agencies have arrived then we moved the other vehicle to a safer place so that they do not attack again and possibly go with the vehicle”.