Video: From ₦1,000 to ₦20,000 per day: How unusual spending at beans stall masked terrorist surveillance in Oyo, Senator reveals
Abdullateef Fowewe
Senator representing Oyo North, Fatai Buhari has revealed that unusual spending at a woman’s beans-and-bread stall in Oriire, Oyo State, was a warning sign before the abduction of 46 people, including schoolchildren and teachers.
The lawmaker in an interview with Arise TV on Friday noted that information and reporting unusual events is very vital to protect societies.
“They want to guide it, let me give you one of the biggest problems we’re having. Two days before this strike, a woman selling beans and bread — normally what she takes home maybe ₦1,000, ₦1,200 — but for two days before the strike she was making ₦10,000, ₦15,000, ₦20,000.
“She thought there was a market boom. Instead of her probably giving that information to the police or to the military — if they tell her ‘there are some certain people that come here to buy’ — or she tells them ‘my business has been booming, probably they are building some setting things, factory or any other thing within and around that area’.
“Unfortunately, it turned out to be that those people were doing what is called surveillance. So when this strike happened two days later, at that time they said ‘ah, these people that were buying these beans and bread bought of ₦10,000, ₦15,000’ — so this is their intention.
“So you can see that at times information is also very vital.”
Buhari said the attackers used unusually large purchases to mask reconnaissance, noting that the vendor’s usual daily takings of about ₦1,000–₦1,200 jumped to between ₦10,000 and ₦20,000 in the two days before the kidnapping.
He urged stronger community reporting and closer cooperation with security forces to prevent similar incidents.
