Food stampedes show govt is detached from ordinary Nigerians —Ezekwesili

Former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili has described recent stampedes during distribution of food palliatives in Oyo, Anambra and Abuja which led to the deaths of some Nigerians as quite unfortunate and a reflection of government’s detachment from the plight of ordinary citizens.

The former vice president for the World Bank (Africa region), and co-founder and founding director of Transparency International, who took a swipe at the responses to the tragedy by President Bola Tinubu during his chat with the media last week, noted that the President and other government officials decided to turn a blind eye to root causes of the problem which is the unbearable hardship and hunger in the country.

The co-founder of the #BringBackOurGirls movement who bared her mind on her X handle on Friday, said:

“Still on the food stampedes across the country. What are these self-righteous indignation and outrage from public officials and institutions towards philanthropic citizens and organizations all about?

“I mean, is it that the well-fed of our society fail to see that it is actually the generosity and social safety net being provided by individuals- here at home and abroad – and their organizations that have kept the poor of the Land going?

“Reading the statements of @officialABAT, the IG of @PoliceNG , @nassnigeria officials and their many senior, junior and minion public officials as well as their allies, you can tell how totally detached from reality these people all are.

“These self-indulgent folks are cocooned away in luxury and blind to how desperate the times are for their fellow Nigerians who now embrace the risk of death to get a “ loaf of bread” for themselves and their children.

“How are these “leaders” failing to connect the dots on how their serial leadership failures have turned normally quiet food charity events (that used to happen without any risk to life) into death traps?

“Do these public officials not understand that unlike a few Nigerians that used to need handouts in the past, majority now do and that it is the massive increase that has placed inordinate pressure on the capacity of the humanitarians?

“Humility and empathy remain in short supply among our public officials and that’s unfortunate but please stop dragging those who were evidently helping fill the gap that your own failures massively created.

“I hope the courts will act in the spirit of jurisprudence and not mere legalism on the matters of benefactors being held in custody for “doing good that went wrong”.

“May God continue to comfort the families of the victims of the food stampedes.”

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