Bayelsa Accuses APC Of Diverting FG Flood Palliatives

The Bayelsa State government has disclosed that some members of the All Progressives Congress in the state allegedly diverted some items the federal Ministry of Regional Development sent to the state as palliatives for flood victims.

The state Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Mrs Ebiowou Koku-Obiyai, made the disclosure on Monday while briefing newsmen on the palliatives the state government received from the Federal Government in Government House, Yenagoa.

Koku-Obiyai, who did not give the number of items that the APC members allegedly diverted, said the state received the items on Saturday last week and that the government was only informing members of the public on the development.

She said Bayelsa State received 2,000 bags of 50kg rice, six bags of 50kg beans, 150 cartons of spaghetti, 1,000 pieces of mosquito nets, 100 cartons of tomato paste and six bags of detergent.

Others are 10 cartons of bathing soap, 20 bags of salt, 20 cartons of vegetable oil, 20 cartons of sachet milk and two cartons of seasoning cubes.

She said the state also received 50 pieces of cooking stoves, six pieces of grinding machines, six pieces of sewing machines, three motorcycles and four bags of rubber slippers.

Koku-Obiyai said, “This is what we received as a state from the Federal Government.

“However, information at our disposal has it that more things were brought into the state and were shared among APC stakeholders. But as a government that is what we have received.

“So, the state should know because we are in a yuletide period and anytime from now the state government will be sharing some palliatives to flood victims and the vulnerable people. Bayelsans may be thinking those things come from the items received.

“2,000 bags of rice is not even enough for a ward or constituency and that is the information we have gathered.”

Responding to a question, she said Bayelsa had earlier received N3 billion from the Federal Government for flood victims and that the money was spent on visitations to flood-affected communities and various IDP camps by reaching out to them.

But reacting to the allegation, the Assistant Publicity Secretary of the Bayelsa State chapter of the APC, Mr Coronation Tokpo, described the allegation as frivolous, saying that Federal Government palliatives are not sent to political parties, but to states.

Tokpo said that in the past, APC members have been denied palliatives because the distribution of palliatives has always been done along party lines in the state.