Following the demise of about seven people at the Federal Government auction rice in Yaba, Lagos, the former Governor of Anambra State and the National Leader of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has expressed dismay at the widespread economic distress in the country.
Obi while reacting to the deaths of All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Comfort Adebanjo and six other people while trying to buy confiscated rice that the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) bemoaned the current government’s unequal distribution of funding.
According to him, Obi said the fact that certain large teaching hospitals are not being adequately funded; instead, more money has been spent on parking lots for politicians.
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Speaking on Sunday during the 2023 presidential election’s first anniversary in Abuja, “The hunger protests have united our people across ethnicity, language, region, faith, and location.
“This is another confirmation of our belief that Nigerians are united by the circumstances of their living conditions, not by artificial barriers raised by opportunistic politicians. We are now one people under hunger.
“Just yesterday, I read with sadness the reports of how a massive crowd besieged the Zonal Office of the Nigerian Customs in Yaba to purchase the discounted 25kg rice offered by the Customs Service.
“In the course of the heavy stampede that ensued, some lives were lost.
“It is heartbreaking to think that despite all the wealth of our nation, Nigerians are losing their lives in their desperate quest to buy food cheaper, in the face of the growing hunger and starvation in the country.
“In all our adversity, our new leaders have resorted to spending stupendous amounts of resources on wasteful items like ordering expensive renovations of offices and residences.”
