Poisonous beans scare in Port Harcourt

Consumers of beans in Rivers State are scared of buying the food item in the markets because of alleged “rumour” in the state that Boko Haram had brought contaminated bags of the commodity that would lead to massive deaths when consumed.


Although the State Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Emmanuel Chinda has told the public to ignore the text messages warning people not to buy beans in the markets, Vanguard gathered, yesterday, that many consumers of beans are not taking the rumour lightly as they do not want to be used as guinea pigs in the Boko Haram beans scare.


Chinda, however, told those who have proof of the poisoned beans in Rivers markets to “come with the beans”. He said neither the Rivers people nor state government has any quarrel with Boko Haram, and as such they have no business wanting to kill people in the state.

One of the text message read “urgent, don’t eat beans for now. Boko Haram has poisoned beans sent to Port Harcourt markets, tell others”. The commissioner said the messages were the “handiwork of detractors and mischief makers”.

At the mile one market, a trader on the commodity simply called Musa said “we cannot sell poisoned beans because it could be traced back to us and you know the consequences of such”, acknowledging that he was aware of the text messages.