Mr. Seyi Makinde, the Oyo State Governor has been caught in the act of sharing COVID-19 palliatives to party loyalists and civil servants.
MAWA Foundation learned that the food items donated by CACOVID to be shared as COVID-19 palliatives were not distributed and were kept in the state secretariat.
Civil servants, party loyalists were seen taken COVID-19 palliatives as Christmas gifts.
Also seen with the palliatives were officers of Nigerian Civil Defence, it was not however clear whether the food items belong to them or they were guarding them for somebody.
Worse still, the CACOVID donations were made to be distributed to citizens of the state affected by COVID-19 months ago. Rather than distribute them, the state government and some of the officials chose to hoard them in the state secretariat and are now giving them out to party loyalists, and some selected civil servants as Christmas gifts.
The state governors a few weeks ago were accused of diverting COVID-19 palliatives while leaving citizens to staff during the lockdown. An accusation they have since denied, pointing out that they did not share the palliatives as a result of bureaucratic delays in distributing them.
Makinde is not the only offender, in Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, the state Governor, had since shared COVID-19 palliatives to party loyalists.
Tracka, a public accountability organization, exposed the sharing of COVID-19 palliatives to party loyalists and civil servants in Oyo state.
Mr. Olamide, Special Assistant to the Oyo State Governor on new media, in response, said the food items were received by the state government in batches from CACOVID between November and December 2020.
He added that they are being distributed to 50,000 households, in 33 Local Government Areas in the state starting from Thursday the 24th day of December.
However, an official with the Oyo state government told MAWA that only People Democratic Party (PDP) members and some selected party members were given the food items.