Firebrand Human Rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has taken a swipe at Governor of Akwa Ibom, Udom Emmanuel for allegedly distributing CACOVID palliatives to some member of his party, PDP as Christmas gifts.
The Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) is a Private Sector task force in partnership with the Federal Government, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) with the sole aim of combating Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Nigeria.
The task force had pulled hundreds of million of resources across industries to provide technical and operational support and funding to the Nigerian government’s efforts in the fight against coronavirus. The coalition bought and gave state governments palliatives to be distributed to Nigerians to ease the suffering occasioned by the lockdown caused by the pandemic, according to report.
Effiong, in series of post on hi Twitter handle on Thursday, alleged that CACOVID relief materials were hoarded by Governor Udom Emmanuel’s Chief of Staff, Mr Ephraim Inyangeyen, who is now “deceitfully” sharing them to people in his local government, Onna, Akwa Ibom.
He tweets reads; “Before you accuse me of “insulting”, hating, attacking or disliking people in government, before you accuse me of attacking Udom Emmanuel, can you explain to me what this means?
“These are COVID-19 palliatives that were meant to be distributed to the less privileged in Akwa Ibom State, but the criminals masquerading as leaders decided to hoard them; even in the face of ravaging hunger in the State.
“The arrogant Chief of Staff to governor Udom Emmanuel, Mr Ephraim Inyangeyen, finally brought out the hoarded palliatives and deceitfully shared them to people in his local government, Onna, (where the governor also hails from) based on political partisanship as Christmas gifts.
“Why should palliatives be distributed to so-called party faithfuls? Is it the PDP that bought them? Has PDP ever raised a Kobo for the poor? What is this nonsense partisanship with food? Why this foolishness and pettiness? Is this how to govern a people?
“These palliatives were reportedly donated by the federal government. They are not supposed to be shared based on partisan loyalty or tribe. It is insane to do so. There should no favouritism in the distribution of food.
“This is just an example of why some of us do not have much regards for these people. How can human beings be this petty, wicked and callous?
“People are suffering, but the satanic elements who think that Akwa Ibom State is their fathers’ property have the audacity to behave this way. This is pure evil. This is criminal”, he wrote.
Meanwhile, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde has come under attack after some viral videos on social media, showed some government officials in the state distributing CACOVID palliatives to some residents as Christmas gifts. The materials had CACOVID boldly written on them.
Following the development, some people have been condemning the state government on social media for waiting till Christmas season to distribute the materials.
On Facebook, Abiola Yusuff wrote; “This is a shame on all of you defending this. Xmas gift or palliatives from CACOVID foundation? Why did Oyo State keep it from July till date?”
Similarly, Ola Ade wrote, “What is written on the bag is CACOVID palliatives not CAXMAS.” Okunade Kehinde wrote, “Confused government,” while Salami Abiodun wrote, “They have a problem.”
According to report, the state government distributed some palliatives during the lockdown, and through its Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Bayo Lawal, it denied that a store where some goods were looted by hoodlums was a warehouse where the state kept palliatives.
Some hoodlums had attacked a private warehouse in Ibadan, carting away bags of rice believed to have been hoarded by the government.
Lawal, who doubles as Chairman, Food Security and Palliative Committee of the Oyo State COVID-19 Task Force, said the state was not supplied rice as part of the CACOVID palliatives and that it did not, at any time, distribute rice as part of palliatives to the people.
He said, “Investigations revealed that there was nothing that concerned the Oyo State government in that warehouse. The warehouse belongs to a private individual who operates in Oyo State and was given a valid contract by the Coalition Against COVID-19, a coalition of private organisations that have been helping states and the Federal Government to fight COVID-19.
“So, it was the rice that he procured on his own for repackaging that was mistaken to be Oyo State’s, that hoodlums looted.”
The Commissioner stated that the state government could not hoard what it did not have, explaining that CACOVID supported the state with cash, medical items and food items, including noodles and Spaghetti.
(Source: BigPen)
