A former vice president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), and a social commentator, Onyekachi Monday Ubani, has said that Nigerians have been reduced to nothing since their wicked leaders can deny them what belongs to them, and still threaten them for daring to take matters into their own hands.
Speaking in an interview with Sunday Sun, Ubani said no political leader should have been walking free in the country for the evils they've done to the people.
He made the statement in response to claims by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum and Presidency saying the looting of covid-19 palliatives was fueled by greed, and that palliatives were not hoarded because plans were on ground to still share them.
Asked whether he is convinced by government’s explanation, he said, "No! What they are saying about what happened to the palliative does not make any sense to me.
"I didn’t come from Mars, or from outside the country. I’ve been here. and I was here when the lockdown started plus when the so-called palliative was allegedly distributed, and figures were flying around of the amount of palliative they’ve given to Nigerians. I asked around from people who are poor of the poorest whether they got any of those palliatives, and they never did.
"I asked at the villages, in urban areas and other states of the country. I am a man on the streets and in all my interactions with people, nobody ever told me they received anything from the government. But I was seeing what the government of other countries were doing for their residents.
"So, when these things happen, our government kept telling all manner of lies about how they spent so much giving palliatives to the poor and people were asking, where are the palliatives? Who and who received?
"So, it was during this protest that it became very apparent that there was the hoarding of this palliative in warehouses across the states. What made me angry is that some of the discoveries that were made were that some of the items have even expired.
"There was a particular area that they discovered expired Garri. People were dying of hunger and government were keeping these things and when they were caught pants down, some of them came up with excuses like that they were waiting for the second round of the COVID-19 pandemic, others were saying that they were waiting for their birthday before they can distribute, others were saying that they have not formed a committee.
"You can see the manner of stupid excuses that they came up with, meaning that these people are supposed to be the ones to be charged, arraigned, and not these hungry Nigerians, who eventually took what belongs to them.
"The palliatives were given to state governments to distribute to hungry Nigerians, is it not? They didn’t distribute it, now the people found it and took it. Now, the state governments are threatening them that you’ll send police to their homes. So, they now know where their homes are, but you never knew their homes when some of those things were to be distributed; so, that is why we fault their logic."