Ekiti APC, PDP trade words over government’s relief materials provision

• Palliatives very scandalous, can’t feed family of four for three days, says opposition
• Your claims amount to irresponsible blackmail, selfish, says ruling party 

The Ekiti State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has described the relief materials provided by the state government as very scandalous, saying that it was like a Christmas gift that could not feed a family of four for three days.

The state Chairman of PDP, Mr. Gboyega Oguntuase, who spoke with some journalists in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, said that the government was working against itself by giving out that kind of palliatives because “if you want to keep people at home, you must give them meaningful palliatives to keep them indoor so to speak.”

Oguntuase said that the relief materials could not touch lives, adding that it was merely cosmetics, noting that if the PDP had rejected the 250 packs given to the party, it could lead to hostility.

“For the third weeks running now, Ekiti has been under lockdown and the palliatives sent to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) cannot go one sachet per ward. They sent to us 250 packets, each packet containing two spaghettis, one kilogramme of semolina, one kilogramme of wheat and two modules of rice. Definitely, it cannot go round the wards.

“It is very scandalous. 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.

“Is it that the governor can’t draw a line between a gift and relief material?

Oguntuase, therefore, urged the governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, to make the donations public.

Meanwhile, in its reaction, the All Progressives Congress (APC) said that what the PDP was saying amounted to cheap blackmail and irresponsible blackmail, saying that the party was not sensitive to the plight of Ekiti people.
 
The state’s Publicity Secretary of APC, Mr. Ade Ajayi, who spoke on telephone said: “You can see that they 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 that the palliative should not be politicised. It cuts across the entire citizens of the state, even the APC executives were not allowed to participate. Government officials are doing everything in transparent manner to cut across the length and breath 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. So, is it possible for the government to feed every citizen in Ekiti State?”