By Amos Aar
PEOPLE Living With Disabilities (PWDs) on Thursday blocked the executive secretary (ES), Benue State Emergency Management Agency (BSEMA), Sir James Iorpuu, during a symbolic presentation of bags of maize and garri to vulnerable persons in Benue State by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) at the Aper Aku stadium, Makurdi, insisting that they must get their share of the food items before the ES would leave the venue.
The PWDs accused Sir Iorpuu of giving the food meant for them to energetic and healthy people without any disability while they were abandoned to go home hungry.
They, first of all, surrounded the BSEMA boss during the symbolic presentation but they were dispersed by security operatives who guarded him into his vehicle.
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The PWDs then barricaded the vehicle to prevent the ES and his entourage’s exit out of the stadium but they were still overpowered by the security operatives who created a way for the ES to drive out of the crowd in reverse gear.
The aggrieved PWDs resorted to using their wheelchairs to fight healthy people who were given the food items to snatch it from them.
Earlier, NEMA Director General, Zubaida Umar, represented by Bashir Dogara, who made the symbolic presentation of the items to Governor Hyacinth Alia for onward presentation to local government council chairpersons for the beneficiaries, said the federal government through NEMA has allocated 17,940 bags of maize (50kg) and 4,342 bags of garri (25kg) for the state.
He said: “These grains are part of the ongoing efforts to mitigate impacts of disasters, conflicts and food insecurity that have affected various parts of our country, including Benue State”.
Taking delivery of the items, Governor Alia, represented by his Principal Private Secretary, Dr Emmanuel Chenge, said the event only marked a symbolic handover because a greater amount of the items was in the store.
In his remarks, the BSEMA Executive Secretary, James Iorpuu, explained that the state government had already sent templates to local government chairpersons in the state, intimating them on how to share the food items to the targeted beneficiaries; the vulnerable and the aged.
Responding on behalf of council chairpersons in the state, the caretaker chairperson of Konshisha local government and ALGON state chairman, Hon. Philip Achua, assured that the items would not be diverted but distributed strictly to the intended beneficiaries.
