Former
Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters, to ex- President Olusegun
Obasanjo, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, has denied allegations by some
youth groups in Cross Rivers State that she diverted relief materials
meant for Internally Displaced Persons in Bakassi Local Government area
of the State. She spoke to the press recently in Lagos, stating her own
side of the story.
We heard that some officials of the State
Emergency Management Agency(SEMA) in Cross Rivers State diverted relief
materials meant for Internally Displaced persons(IDP),how true?
When I heard that there was fire outbreak
in Bakassi, I took a flight the next day to Calabar and went to see
things for myself. Before leaving for Calabar, I called the Director
General of the National Refugee Commission and the next day, they sent
people for fact finding and I offered to take them to Bakassi. When they
got there, they verified the damage that was done. Within three weeks, I
was informed that relief materials had arrived and the deputy governor
of Cross Rivers State was there on behalf of the governor to appreciate
the provisions of the relief materials. Most of what was sent by the
Federal Government was building materials because they live in shanties
and when the rains fall, they do not have shelter. After the
presentation, the officials of the refugee commission came to my office
and gave me the list of all the building relief materials that they
brought.
It takes me a lot of time to get to
Bakassi from Lagos and I take the pains to do that because I want to
give the Bakassi people a sense of belonging. For me to get there I have
to talk to the military to go with me with a gun boat and sometimes we
have to wait for about four hours for the tide to rise, because if it is
not high enough, it would not carry the gunboat. The boat would have to
carry me and everyone with me up to a point where it cannot go anymore.
From there, I would have to charter a medium sized boat and it would
carry me up to a point near the sea shore. Because of the swamp, I would
still hire a hard boat that will take me to a particular place where I
would have to pull up my trousers to wade through water to get there.
But I needed to do that because I have won elections four times in
Bakassi, so I owe them my allegiance.
When I visited Calabar again for Prof
Osinbajo’s visit, I got information that the prices of building
materials had dropped because so many building materials had flooded the
market. So, I organised some people to go into the market to see if we
could find out anything. Then out of the blues, someone came and told me
that he saw someone who asked him if he wanted to buy a bundle of zinc
for N15, 000. We now got the address of the person who was supplying the
zinc at that amount and we went there and saw that it was the residence
of one Mr. Udeme, the man who called me and said I should come to
Calabar because of the fire outbreak.
When we got to his residence, it was
locked and he had very huge dogs and my boys said they could not force
the gate open. So I called Abuja and asked that I be given some
policemen to accompany me to lay siege at Udeme’s residence because he
was on the run. On the second day of laying siege at his residence,
someone informed us that Mr. Udeme’s wife was in a church nearby. We
sent for his wife and I told her to either open the gate for us to take
the building materials that were in their compound or she would follow
us to the Police station. She opened the gate and we gained entrance. We
hired three trucks to carry out all the building materials including
the 56 bags that were left and took them to the police headquarters.
I also got the name of a certain woman in
the Council whom I was told the relief materials were handed over to.
When I met her, she confirmed to me that she was given 30 bags of cement
by barter from Mr. Udeme. She gave me a list of the name of the people
who collected the relief materials on behalf of the Bakassi Internally
Displaced Persons. The relief materials we saw in Udeme’s compound were
meant for IDPs and were not supposed to be there. Others may have sold
theirs, but I do not know if Udeme intended to sell his own.
I have been invited to appear on the
floor of the House of Assembly and out of respect for the legislature, I
will be in Calabar to answer any questions regarded this issue. I will
also file a suit in Court and I will petition the United Nations, the
National Assembly and the ECOWAS parliament demanding a release of the
remaining relief materials from those who diverted them. I am ready to
do that because I have no work to do. I have no job but I have the means
to pursue the case to any level.
The DG of SEMA said he handed over the materials to the local government; where would you rather have had them taken to?
The materials should be taken straight to
the IDPs from SEMA because the local government does not have the
facility to store them. I have written to Dangote and asked that some of
the relief materials that his foundation usually distributes should be
brought to Bakassi. In my letter, I specifically mentioned that the
materials should be sent to SEMA because they have the facility to store
them.
You were accused of masterminding the
diversion of the relief materials by some youth groups and not the other
way round. What is your response?
If there was a way that I could divert
the materials so that they would go directly to the IDPs for which they
were meant, I probably would have done that. The National Refugee
Commission actually asked me how the materials would get to the people
and I told them to take it to SEMA because SEMA has the capacity to
store them. Eighty percent of the times that relief materials have been
sent to Bakassi, I am the one that usually pays for them to be
transported down to the IDPs. I hire boats for that.
Some of the protesters say that they do
not want you to represent them or be an intermediary between them and
any State or Federal agency. If they say that they do not want you, why
do you still say that you are their leader?
On my 71st birthday, indigenes of Bakassi
placed an advertorial in the paper and called me their natural leader
and I will tell you how that title came to be. When the former governor
of Cross Rivers took away the mandate of Prince Otu, I stood by him and
when the governor saw that, he was bitter against me and said I would be
removed as the caucus leader of Bakassi Local Government. I said no
problem, but that because I have been leading them from inception, I
will remain their natural leader and all of them accepted. People have a
right to reject whoever they do not want to lead them, but why is the
rejection coming now that there is an issue of diversion of relief
materials? Is the evidence not clear?
Some of the grievances of the people are that you are trying to seek relevance through Bakassi people. Can you refute that?
Governor Ayade gave me whatever I wanted
from him even without asking, because I supported him during his
campaign and I would love to see him achieve all his projects for the
State. When I was leaving for APC, I went to his office and told him why
I was leaving and I offered to return the Prado that I was given when
he gave me an appointment. He said we should keep working together. He
is the first governor of the State to appoint a Bakassi indigene as a
commissioner and we appreciated him for that. When
Buhari became President, Cross Rivers was the first State that he
visited and in his euphoria at that kind of exposure that Buhari came to
the State, the first before any other State, he said I should support
Buhari. Cross Rivers has never had it so good in terms of federal
appointments and that is one of the reasons why I defected to APC. I
told the governor that I cannot show appreciation from outside, and for
me to show proper appreciation, I had to go and join them and I did. I
didn’t go to APC with any envelop.
The only thing I took to Buhari was the
report of the resettlement that we had given ex- President Goodluck
Jonathan that was not acted upon. I pleaded with Buhari to implement the
report and I know that he would do it.
I supported Ben Ayade to emerge as
governor of the State and in fairness to him, when he took over, he told
me to bring the names of those I would want to be given appointment. I
gave him the names of seven people and he took five. Last year, I wrote
to him that I needed support for the children of Bakassi and he donated
N8 million. When I opened a business in Calabar and he also donated.
There has never been a time I mentioned him in the issue of the relief
materials.
