Tension was palpable Tuesday in Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, with circulation of rumours about the crash of a Ponzi-style food investment scheme.
The Nation states that the initiative, named Global Food Initiative, has been running in the state since the early week of August 2026, with the purpose to subsidise the prices of food goods for its users.
According to a casual staff of the scheme who demanded anonymity, “subscribers will pay for their desired food items that have been subsidised by half of their initial price at the open market.”
“Subscribers must pay for the items they want and they will come for the items paid for after eight days of investment for collection.”
Meanwhile, the investment took a different turn on Monday, as subscribers swarmed their shop in the Odi-Olowo district of Osogbo about 6:30am, after a presenter identified the venture as bogus on a private radio station.
The move caused panic as irate subscribers descended on the initiative’s personnel demanding their money or groceries.
One of the subscribers, Rukayat, said, “I invested N1 million last week and I collected foodstuffs after 8 days but I invested another N2 million which will mature on Wednesday. We have now learned that it has crashed. “They have to pay me my money.”
Adewale Adegbite also said, “This morning I want to invest but I came here to see people breaking into their store violently in a bid to cart away the foodstuffs in their stock. Thank God I didn’t do it.”
A gigantic crowd assembled in front of the outlet with six police patrol vans parked there to preserve law and order when our correspondent visited the location.
The Osun State Police Command, when contacted, said through its spokesperson DSP Abiodun Ojelabi that it had sent officers to the scene, expecting that a riot might break out at the outlet.
“There have not been any reports, but to maintain peace and order the police have to move into the scene to calm the situation and also to avoid property damage. “Then we began to learn about the transaction between the corporation and the victims, who have been collecting people’s money for subsidised rice.
“People will have to pay in advance and collect their goods after a week. We only went there because we received information that it was turning rowdy. We are still waiting for someone to provide us the right information”.
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