Gift Joseph Okpakorese
The news has been announced to the general public of the kind gestures exhibited by a politician and lawmaker, of the All Progressive Congress, (APC), who decided to shares N50million cash to political associates as Ramadan gifts.
Sources disclosed that the member of the House of Representatives representing Suleja /Tafa And Gurara federal constituency, Abubakar Lado Suleja, decided to start his Ramadan celebrations early, by giving off cash sums of N50 million to his fellow political affiliates and well-wishers, as part of his gift in honor of this year’s Muslim celebrations of Ramadan.
According to the report, the lawmaker was witnessed with huge sums of cash which he brought along and started sharing single-handedly, to his compatriots while asking cameramen to take photos of the occasion. The amount shared was disclosed to have been within the range of N200, 000 to N1 million.
What is most baffling in all of these questionable spendings, according to the reports documented by a media outlet, SaharaReporters, is the fact that the political lawmaker from the All Progressives Congress who was said to have shared the money on Tuesday 27th April 2021, embarked on the spending spree, without any form of empowerment goals, mandate or definitive economic objective in mind.
Meanwhile, neutral, who observed that the constituency of this lawmaker is, Suleja /Tafa and Gurara federal constituency in Niger State is experiencing untold hardship and harsh economic challenges. According to reports, activities and happenings in recent times within the state revealed that they have witnessed their fair share of insecurity, insurgency, and terrorist attacks whereby several citizens were abducted, injured, killed, as some of the remote villages were also abandoned in the process.
Many citizens of the state, as well as external onlookers, have been critical of the actions of the lawmaker claiming that such show of luxury could have been put to more reasonable and effective use especially with the recent activities in his state of representation, as well as the hardship faced by many of the people he is representing, owing to insecurity and hike in prices of goods and services.
More so, most Nigerians who heard of the incident were also critical of how and where the federal lawmaker withdrew the N50 million cash that is being disbursed lavishly, to his cronies especially as it is against bank policies for anyone to possess such an amount of raw cash.
However, in defense of his actions, the APC lawmaker responded by saying that it was important and expedient for him to acknowledge and show appreciation to compatriots for the past. In his words;
“ It is necessary for me to pay loyalty with royalty. He said the money was to thank his people for their patience and loyalty. He said he particularly chose the Ramadan period to be able to repay them in full. The cash disbursements were given to beneficiaries as follows: N1million, N500,000, N300,000, and N200,000,” a source disclosed.
