Inyali Peter|14 December 2016
Why have I not written about the monumental fraud going on in the screening of successful candidates for the federal government N-Power scheme? Why have I not condemned the evil allegedly perpetrated by Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo and the Cross River government? Why am I so quite about this? For those who have been calling, texting and mailing to know why, my response is not too far from what you are all suspecting.
About two or three months ago, I did an article on the danger of losing about $30 million investment of World Bank Commercial Agriculture Development Program as a result of Governor Ben Ayade's refusal to approve the list of successful canactivistsor training, more than 50% of the subsequent beneficiaries who claimed to be PDP members or Ayade's supporters called me all manner of names. Some even went as far as calling me with hidden number to threaten me but in the end, even when I applied for the same program and from a reliable source made it through the screening, my name lost on transit.
Some of them were calling to thank me from the camp during their training as some staff disclosed that my critical piece caused them a lot of trouble from the country coordinator that came to Calabar to see the governor to release the names. Although it was backdated to about two months, the reality remain that the list was only released a week after my article. Three weeks later, they were all trained and I'm aware that arrangement to empower or set up businesses for the about six hundred Cross Riverians who participated in training is in top gear.
I decided to give this brief background to set the record straight for those who are alleging that I am quite because I am benefiting or benefitted from the alleged mirage going on. Suffice me to say that, I didn't apply for the N-Power scheme and have no connection whatever with what is going on.
My decision to stay mum is because the young people are not appreciating what of we're doing. The same set of people that used to abuse Comrade Ifere Paul, Barr. Joseph Odok, Efio-Ita Effiom Nyok, myself and many of us who have decided to firmly defend the truth are crying foul today.
The Ifere and Odok that people don't like or disrespect on social media are the people who have exposed this wickedness perpetrated by a PDP government. Have the gullible suddenly recognised the importance of our jobs as activists and critics of the PDP and Ayade's government? Must we only unite to fight injustice when it affects us directly? We risk our lives to fight for justice for the common man but we get hatred and abuses from the same people we're defending.
However, in the spirit of comradeship and activism, I have decided to take my displeasure to another level. The Cross River state government or whosoever has no right whatsoever to open a new website for the registration of new N-Power scheme. The responsibility of the state government is to verify after which they deploy. Anybody trying to shortchange the unsuspecting public will end up in shame.
Join us, 'Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria' tomorrow by 7:3am as we take our displeasure to the state ministry of finance. Our protest tomorrow will be peaceful and our message is simple; Cross River state government and the managers of the N-Power scheme must adhere strictly to the instructions from the federal government and must maintain the status quo.
Let's fight this injustice now or it will become a norm.
Inyali Peter
Is a Journalist
