The Director General of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mr John Inaku has said that none of the relief materials meant for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Bakassi in Cross River State was diverted.
Speaking with DAILY POST on Tuesday on phone, Mr Inaku said: “The truth is that nothing has been diverted; she (Senator Florence Ita-Giwa) just wanted to raise alarm to score cheap popularity because the materials were not given to her for distribution”.
He explained that when the materials arrived, he handed them over to the Head of Local Government Administration in Bakassi, who is just like the Chairman of Council, adding that she in turn handed them to Chief Udeme Effiong Okon.
According to him, Chief Okon’s compound had been the central place for keeping those materials.
“Before this time, it was Senator Florence Ita-Giwa who was collecting the materials and because she was not given, she aggravated the crisis.
“The HOLGA has accepted that the materials were given to her by SEMA and she distributed them to Atabong communities, riverine Areas and the up-land”, he added.
Consequently, Chief Okon called Senator Florence Ita Giwa to inform her that the share of the materials meant for Atabong where she and Chief Okon hailed from had arrived.
“Since Senator Florence Ita is from the same community with Chief Okon, Chief Okon called her to inform her that the materials for their community have been received and that she should come and see them since others have been taken theirs away.
“Unknown to Chief Okon about Senator Florence Ita-Giwa’s intention, she rather went to assess the materials with Police Officers, DSS and the Press and alleged that the materials have been diverted.
“She alleged that those items were found in the markets but has not mentioned any of the shops or the person that bought them as well as the markets so that the man whose shops those materials are found could be asked to show where he bought them or who sold to him.
“Those things are not missing, they are intact. She was only raising alarm to achieve cheap popularity, those relief materials are not missing,n neither were they diverted”, the DG stated.
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