COVID-19 Palliatives: Gov. Wike under fire as Amaechi distributes food items to Rivers people 

Eze Chukwuema Eze, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State has attacked the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, after the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, distributed palliatives to the people of the state.

Reports and complaints from Rivers residents went viral on social media recently that the palliatives being managed by the Desmond Akawo-led State Government Palliative Committee were distributed with discriminations along party lines.

Members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the State are said to be the most beneficiaries.

Also, some residents of the state who spoke to DAILY POST confirmed this, adding that the palliatives are insignificant as 5 persons were given a tuber of yam; some given a sachet of noodles; some a tin of tomatoes; and some others got a cup of rice or garri.

While many Rivers residents dismissed the governors’ palliatives as an insult to the people, Eze further described the State Governor as ‘miserly’ in a statement he made available to DAILY POST on Sunday.

He called on other people of goodwill to collaborate Amaechi’s social services to Rivers people and spank Wike for being discriminatory to Rivers people.

Amaechi recently gifted over 12,000 bags of rice to Rivers people, which according to the APC chieftain was shared in the best manner possible to strike down favouritism and discrimination on grounds of party affiliation.

Eze, an erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), said Amaechi’s intervention became expedient following the untold hardship occasioned by the total lockdown of the state and the attendant hunger striking and ravaging poor homes.

Eze noted that many poor families have been abandoned to their fate by the state government amid the pandemic and lockdown which has crushed sources of livelihood and offered an invitation to hunger.

“The state government’s [palliatives] has been caught in the web of discrimination and massive diversion and has been described by citizens as a mere scam,” he claimed.

He decried that, “a cup of garri, a few grains of Rice and a sachet or two of noodles from the state government are awfully insignificant and terribly poor for a Rivers family and is not commensurate with 2 billion Naira taxpayers’ money earmarked for the project.”

Governor Wike had recently claimed that the state is fighting the battle against COVID-19 without any tangible material support from the Federal Government.