Lucky Obukohwo Reporting
Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has punctured the claim that the state government received 20 trucks of rice from the federal government and 30,000 bags from Aliko Dangote Foundation, saying that the allegation is a lie from the pit of hell.
Recall that the former governor of Edo State and Senator representing Edo North senatorial District, Comrade Adams Oshiomohle had at the weekend, alleged that the state government took delivery of bags of rice from both the Federal government and Dangote Foundation.
However, addressing journalists in Benin-City on Monday, the Deputy Director Media, Asue Ighodalo Governorship Campaign Committee, an arm of the campaign council, Rev. Olu Martins faulted the allegation.
Martins said, the feeding programme running in Edo State now was initiated by the Edo State Government and implemented by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Muslim community and other religious bodies in the state.
He said, “Comrade Adams Oshiomhole having been a governor and now a senator should have know how government is run, and not to speculate.”
Speaking emphatically, Martins said “The Edo State Government did not receive any rice from federal government or Aliko Dangote Foundation.
“Mind you that Mr President did not mention in his speech of rice going to any of the states, or may be that could still be in the offing, because if he sent 20 trucks of rice to Edo State, which ministry or agency of government did it go to? It could have gone through Ministry of Humanitarian Affair and because it is Government, there will be a process, somebody should deliver it to somebody in Edo State and somebody sign upon delivery.
“There should be an acknowledgement letter signed by those who received it. You can’t just go and deliver to the Edo State Government. There is a Commissioner for Agriculture and the Commissioner has said that he is yet to see a pickup of rice not to talk about 20 trucks.”
Continuing, he said: “The former governor made allusion to Dangote, that is an annoying thing. Maybe, because the APC has been consistently bashed especially at the federal level, not forgetting that the protest is against bad governance. Because of the constant bashing the Comrade Senator is crying wolf, trying to instigate people to loot.
“We saw during the EndSARS, where people broke warehouse that never belong to government. He mentioned that Edo State received 30,000 bags of rice from Aliko Dangote Foundation, and it was heart breaking.
“Today, I watched Aliko Dangote Foundation distributing rice to poor people, using religious bodies; the same template adopted by the Edo State Government. The Dangote Foundation doesn’t distribute rice through the state government.”
“Edo people will not be hoodwinked in to accepting lies, nor will Edo people be deceived to fight a legitimate government, as Obaseki’s name will not be on the ballot, nor Oshiomhole name going to be on the ballot, but if they are determined to bring Obaseki to the picture, we will not waste time to bring Oshiomhole to the picture.”
He therefore, challenged the APC candidate to tell Edo people his vision, or manifesto adding, that the man (Asue Ighodalo) who has a vision for Edo people has been going round to sell his vision and manifesto to Edo people.
Also, one of the spokespersons for the media campaign committee, Christopher Ojeikere, said “The facts is that the Edo State Government has a feeding programme being implemented by CAN, the Muslim and other religious bodies. The facts is that that body was set up three months ago. The first 1 billion naira released for the programme ran very successfully, before the last trench of 1 billion released now. Every other story about rice coming from anywhere is pure speculation.”