EDO RICE SCANDAL AND THE STOLEN GOODWILL

Since the story broke that obviously, the officials of Edo State Government stole the federal government rice donated to the victims of war, nay internally displaced persons in the north east taking refuge in Edo State, agents of the state government have severally denied it as untrue, albeit unconvincingly.

The hole in their defence is that they have avoided mentioning the actual delivery made to the IDP Camp at Uhorgua, Edo State. Rather, some have tried to cover up the theft by claiming that some orphanages benefitted from the largesse which at any rate the State Government never credited to the federal government or the Nigerian Customs from which inventory the gifts including 6,822 bags of rice, 76 Cartons of Vegetable oil, 100 Sacks of used shoes and 20 pairs of used shoes were donated specifically to the IDPs in the CHRISTIAN HOMES FOR THE NEEDY, IDP CAMP, BENIN.

Ostensibly from the stock of rice from the Customs delivered to the Edo State Government as specified in a letter/waybill dated on November 10, 2017 for safe keeping pending formal presentation to the beneficiaries, the Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki represented by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Duties, Mr. Yakubu Gowon donated some items to the IDPs in the CHRISTIAN HOMES FOR THE NEEDY, IDP CAMP, BENIN on December 27th 2017.

At the occasion, the Special Adviser on Special Duties Mr. Yakubu Gowon made the following declaration: “The donation is to show the state governor’s love for his people and that he is committed to making them happy. This is to show that Edo State Government loves every citizen, irrespective of their social status. We know this is the season to show love. The governor says if he eats a spoonful of rice, people in the camp should eat two. And if he wears shoes, they should also do same”.

In the above presentation, the special adviser never credited the federal government or the Customs Service with the donation. If this donation which took place about six weeks after the Edo State Government took delivery of the gifts from the Customs on the orders of the federal government did not come from the Custom’s goods in its custody, then what happened to the Custom’s goods?

It is on record that the federal government through the Comptroller General of Customs delivered the aforementioned goods to Edo State Government as attested to in the accompanying letters and waybills from three of the Customs’ Commands namely: Owerri, Port Harcourt and Akwa Ibom.
Breakdown of delivery from different customs commands are as follows:

(1) OwerriCommand:
RICE 5879 BAGS OF 50 KG;
VEGETABLE OIL 76 CARTONS;
USED SHOES100 SACKS;
USED SHOES 20 PAIRS

(2) Eastern Marine Command PortHarcourt:
RICE 81 BAGS OF FOREIGN RICE

(3) Cross Rivers/Akwa Ibom Command;
RICE 862 BAGS OF FOREIGN RICE

In each of the accompanying letters or waybills, the customs service explained that the gesture was in compliance with a presidential directive. The directive was “donate all perishable seized goods by the customs to the IDPs in the North East".

The waybill went further to say "below is the item allocated to THE BENIN IDP CAMP IN EDO STATE" (emphasis mine). The letters/ waybill had different conclusions though.

The one from the CROSS RIVER/AKWA IBOM COMMAND was concluded with the words: "The items will be transported to the IDP camp by the Nigeria Army Corp of Supply andTransport".

The one from Eastern Marine Command PortHarcourt was concluded with the words: "The items will be transported to the BENIN IDP camp by the Nigeria Customs Service".

And the one from OWERRI was concluded with the words: "The items will be transported to the BENIN IDP camp by the Nigeria Customs Service".

Pursuant to making the delivery to the Camp, on the 2nd February 2018, the OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER-GENERAL of the Nigeria Customs Service wrote a LETTER OF APPRECIATION/REQUEST FOR THE RELOCATION OF RELIEF ITEMS TO THE IDP CAMP IN BENIN.

In the letter, the CG quoted the presidential directive and listed the membership of NATIONAL LOGISTICS COMMITTEE, comprising of the "Nigeria customs service, Nigerian Army, Nigerian Police Force, FRSC, NSCDC, NAFDAC, NTA, NAN and Red Cross who have been responsible for distributing these items in Bornu, Yobe, Adamawa and Edo state in phases".
It stated that while other State Governments have been paying for the cost of transporting the items from the various Customs warehouses to the IDP camps in their respective states, that of Edo state had been paid by the NCS despite earlier requests to Edo State Government to assist in such payments. It was therefore gratifying to know that this time around, HIS Excellency, the Governor of Edo State has graciously paid for the transportation of these donated relief items from various warehouses to THE BENIN IDP CAMP." He went further to say, "In line with the Presidential mandate given to the National Logistics Committee to handover such relief items at the camp, NLC has therefore scheduled the second week of February 2018 to come to Benin and hand over the items to the IDPs. For this to be possible, the Committee wishes to request His Excellency to further assist by directing the relocation of these items from the warehouse in Government House where they are stored to the CHRISTIAN HOMES FOR THE NEEDY, IDP CAMP, BENIN to ease our handover process."

Upon the receipt of the CG’s letter, the EDSG delivered 1500 bags of rice to CHRISTIAN HOMES FOR THE NEEDY, IDP CAMP, BENIN on 8 February 2018 at close to midnight. Another 601 bags were delivered by 7a.m. on 9 February 2018 making a total of 2101 bags of rice. There were no sacks of shoes and no vegetable oil!

It is common knowledge that during the Christmas period, the government gave thousands of bags of rice to APC leaders and their followers all over Edo State. And that this gesture coincides with the items delivered by the Customs but cannot be accounted for suggests that they were diverted to the wrong hands.

As if this diversion was not bad enough, the state government it is apparent, tried to take credit for the gesture of the federal government. This is most reprehensible.

If the state government continues to deny diverting or stealing the items in its custody, it must come clean by giving a proper account, stating the items with figures it delivered. The disclosure must for transparency sake be in the public domain for scrutiny.

And finally, EDSG owes the public an apology for trying to steal the credit due the federal government and the Nigerian Customs.

They have to hide their heads in shame for what we could say is daylight robbery!

If they can do this with rice, vegetable oil and used shoes, we can only wonder what they do with our money!


EDO DESERVE BETTER!!


Attached are some of the letters from customs.










































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