The Ekiti State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Thursday, described the relief materials provided by the state government as very scandalous, saying it was largely insufficient.
The Chairman of PDP in the state, Mr Gboyega Oguntuase, while speaking with journalists in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital said that the government was working against itself by giving out the kind of palliatives, adding “If you want to keep people at home, you must give them meaningful palliatives to keep them indoor so to speak.”
He noted that if the PDP rejected the 250 packs given to the party, it could lead to hostility in the state.
“For the third week running now, Ekiti has been under lockdown, now the palliatives sent to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), cannot go one sachet per ward. They sent to us 250 packets, each packet containing 2 spaghetti, one Kg of semolina, one Kg of wheat and two bowls of rice. Definitely it cannot go round wards. The so call relief material can’t meet the need of a poor family for three days.
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“It is very scandalous. We have the picture here. Ekiti people are expecting something tangible. They should not turn around to say they have provided palliative of N250 million, we have the estimate. We are calling on the state government to review it and do something that can take care of the need of a family under lockdown.
“Ekiti people want something better than this. When you are not talking of Christmas gift, when we are talking about relief materials, it should be truly relief materials. Is it that the governor can’t draw a line between a gift and relief material? If a family of 4 takes this relief material, it will cause a problem in their home.
“I am personally disappointed the relief materials are merely cosmetic. The governor of Lagos State has said that people are sabotaging his relief materials, if our governor does not know what it contains in those bags, he should say so, if they are sabotaging him let him say so. But if that is what he intends to give as relief materials, it can’t last.
“What he has sent is not relevant to the people of Ekiti, we are over 2 million people, I don’t think the government know what they want to do. You cannot protect lives and destroy livelihood. Hunger alone killed over 8 million people worldwide last year alone. So hunger is a bad virus too. So you do not run away from one bad virus and embrace the other too,” he said.
Reacting to the PDP claims on the Government palliatives, the All progressives Congress, said, what the PDP was saying amounted to cheap blackmail saying that the party was not sensitive to the plight of Ekiti people
According to the APC State Publicity Secretary, Mr Ade Ajayi, who stated this in a telephone conversation, said, “You can see they(PDP) don’t have the interest of Ekiti people at heart. The food was never distributed along party lines.
“Is the PDP expecting the government to continue to feed them at the expense of others? You should know what they will do if they were in government! That is why the people of Ekiti should sit back, see and discover the people that can really govern them.
“In the first instance, Fayemi specifically said the palliative should not be politicized. It cuts across the entire citizens of the state, even the APC executive were not allowed to participate. Government officials are doing everything in transparent manner to cut across the length and breadth of Ekiti, reaching the vulnerable irrespective of their political affiliation.
“So, those people would explain where they came about the 250 bags given to them. The food items that have been distributed so far cut across, no APC, no PDP, no any party. It is just Ekiti indigenes. Those people living in Ekiti. So is it possible for the government to feed every citizen in Ekiti? With the content, the government did it in a way it will cut across. These were the things they were doing when they were in govt that an individual has 42 houses at the expense of other Nigerians,” he said
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