Edo State residents at Urora community in the Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of the state on Thursday invaded a residential warehouse and commercial truck where bags of rice funded by Nigeria government were stored, took away the yet to be distributed government palliatives on Day One of the ongoing Nationwide EndBadGovernance in Nigeria protest.
Edo State Government in a press statement on Thursday said that the bags of rice taken away by some residents in the state were meant for selected people he described as vulnerable persons in the state and was funded to be distributed through Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Edo State Chapter.
All Progressives Progress, APC members in the state had accused the state government of hoarding the bags of rice given to him by Federal Government for onward distribution to the Edo people as part of measures to address the hunger biting hard on people in the state which is the root cause of the EndBadGovernance protest that started across the country on Thursday.
CAN in a video press statement said that the first batch of the bags of rice palliatives started earlier this year in the month of May with one billion naira funding from the Edo State Government and the second batch of the palliatives were funded with another one billion naira by the state government.
The Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Edo State Chapter, Apostle Irekpono Omoike said the invaded residence where bags of rice were looted by hoodlums in Urora, in Ikoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State is owned by a vendor contracted by the Edo State CAN Implementation Committee for the Christian Feeding Programme.
He stated that the Christian Feeding Programme which is in its second phase of distributing relief materials to vulnerable Christian Group was funded by the Edo State Government with 2 billion naira.
According to him, “there is a very important issue to correct a wrong notion that is circulating that the rice being distributed by the State Government is rice supplied by the Federal Government and re-bagged. This is misinformation. It is a very wrong notion that needs to be corrected”.
Meanwhile, the state government in a press release signed by the Commissioner of Informationa and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare said: “the Edo State Government has received information about the looting of bags of rice from unidentified truck and private residences in parts of Benin City in the wake of the EndBadGovernance protests.
The videos making the rounds are said to have emanated from the Urora axis of Ikpoba Hill, Benin City, and government does not have a warehouse in that location.
The government supports the vulnerable with relief materials through religious organisations particularly the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and the Edo State Muslims Pilgrim Welfare Board.
The State government does not keep any relief material by itself but reaches out to the people through these channels.
We will not put this tactic past the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is spreading malicious content to score cheap political points. This condemnable action is intended to cause chaos in the state and the APC is discouraged from such ignoble practice.
The public is enjoined to disregard the malicious message that these people are trying to send with the video.
We want to once again urge protesters not to attack or destroy the property of others as they go about their demonstration in a peaceful and orderly manner”.
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