Free Food Saga: CSO Says Akpabio Quoted Out Of Context

Rising-Up for a United Nigeria (RUN), a frontline civil society organisation that monitors government policies and programmes, has called on Nigerians to disregard a video clip circulating on social media in which the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, is said to have told Nigerians to avail themselves anywhere they see free food.

In a press release signed and made available to journalists in Abuja on the 15th of October 2024, the rights group maintained that Senator Godswill Akpabio was maliciously and deliberately quoted out of context by those opposed to his pro-masses policies and the synergy he has developed between the legislature and the executive.

“It is entirely false and misleading to insinuate that the Senate President is mocking Nigerians by asking them to avail themselves anywhere there is free food. For the record, the video was made in the first week of the inauguration of the Senate, and the announcement or invitation was not meant for Nigerians.

“Senator Goodwill Akpabio was inviting his colleagues to a dinner organised by Senator Dandutse Mohammed for the Senate President and Deputy Senate President.

Since the dinner was the private initiative of the Senator, Akpabio’s remarks were meant as a joke to his colleagues.

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“To have recycled the video and claim it was what the Senate President said on Friday is not just insensitive but a deliberate attempt to accuse a man who has always stood with the masses, especially the youth and vulnerable Nigerians. Senator Godswill Akpabio did not and cannot mock Nigerians when he is working tirelessly to better their lives through quality legislation”, the release stated.

The CSO noted that the Senate President, who outperformed his rivals during his stint as the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, together with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is working tirelessly to turn around Nigeria’s fortunes with various initiatives and programmes which will soon place Nigeria on the global advanced economies.

“There is no doubt that the Senate President is concerned with the welfare of Nigerians. The harmonious relationship between the legislature and the executive has yielded many favourable fruits that must be addressed. For instance, one of the areas the Senate plans to give full support to regarding the National Youth Confab, which will soon be convocated, is accelerated food production and increased investment in agriculture and job creation through industrialisation.

“There will also be a Special Youth Envoy for the Office of the Senate President who will be a liaison between the youth and the federal government ahead of the forthcoming Confab towards identifying areas of comparative advantage and potentials for effective allocation of resources for national development. To say the Senate President is insensitive to the plight of Nigerians is deceitful”, the release added.

The rights group ended by passing a vote of confidence in the Senate President and calling on Nigerians to “discountenance those trying to derail the wheels of good governance, particularly the Renewed Hope Agenda to which the Senate President is committed to its actualisation.”