Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr Crusoe Osagie, said that “Out of the total 6,821 bags of rice allocated to Edo State, the total number of bags of rice received by the Edo State government was four thousand six hundred and thirty nine(4,639).
“Two thousand one hundred and eighty two (2,182) bags were bad, unfit for consumption and were not collected by the state government. These figures can be verified from the customs and the Nigerian Army who witnessed the process of receiving the items.”
He explained that “no single jar of vegetable oil was received because all of them were expired according to the dates marked on the containers by the manufacturers,” and urged Edo PDP to accord displaced persons the respect and dignity they deserve and should not make them subjects of their concocted attention-seeking fable.
Osagie said that “on Christmas Eve, 24 December, 2017, IDP camp in Uhogua received 500 bags of rice. Also on Christmas Eve, fifty sacks of used shoes were given to the IDPs in Uhogua. Two weeks ago, IDP camp Uhogua received another 2,101 bags of rice, which brings the total number of bags of rice received by the IDP camp in Uhogua to 2601.”
He added that “Displaced people in Edo Central, Edo North and orphanages received 1421 bags of rice. The remaining 617 bags are in the State government’s warehouse. We also have about thirty-five sacks of used shoes in the store scheduled for distribution in the weeks ahead.”
He further said that aside the IDP camp in Uhogua, “We have displaced persons in Ilushi area in Edo Central, Ogbomerhe in Edo North and various orphanages across the state.
“Don’t you think it is only fair to ensure that all the displaced people across the state and not just in the IDP camp benefit from the rice donated to IDPs? He asked.
The governor’s aide said the state government “would ordinarily not engage in this back and forth with the Edo PDP because we are certain that the Edo people they robbed blind are still mostly alive and present and they know fully well who the bandits in Edo State are.
“However, it is necessary to reassure Edo people with facts that the Obaseki government does not possess the PDP’s traits of banditry and insensitivity to the plight of ordinary people.
“We know that the callous people who make up the Edo PDP will not mind feeding displaced people with expired vegetable oil and rice but the Obaseki Government will never subject the people to such base treatment synonymous with Dan Orbih and the Edo PDP. Remember that Orbih is still being investigated for stealing land belonging to a female secondary school in Benin which his wife attended.”
