By Odey Ojeka
The Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on prosecution, Okoi Obono-Obla has distributed bales of wrappers and bags of rice in his native Letankpankom 2 in Ugep community of Yakurr local government area of central Cross River State.
Obla said the gesture was in the spirit of the yuletide and was aimed at mitigating the plight of his kinsmen.
“It is good to always show love, affection, charity, and to extend hands of friendship to the needy and other people in the society,” said Obla.
Obla, who is also the head of the Presidential task force panel on the recovery of public assets has been quite critical about the distribution of similar items by politically exposed persons in the recent past.
On December 22, 2016 at about 6:30 AM, Obla had written on his Facebook timeline that: “I can see now clearly why corruption thrives in Nigeria at least in the public sector! A situation where some misguided members of our Party in the State Chapters expect those of us who have been given appointments to dole out cash to them without minding where the money is coming from leave a sour taste in the mouth! Apart from slush source of fund where do these Party members expect us to get money to dole out to them? Do they expect us to steal? Do they expect us to compromise our integrity by collecting bribes?
“I depend entirely on my salary to take care of the needs of my family ,extended family members, political associates and an army of other dependents! So where do we get money to buy Xmas gifts and dole out cash as some people are expecting?
“The dependency and corrupt patronage system or cronyism foisted on us by PDP is yet to be eliminated. This is the challenge. The mindset of our People is fantastically corrupted and polluted. We need a massive national orientation campaign to purge ourselves from mental enslavement and paternalistic culture of perpetual dependency syndrome.”
However, some of the beneficiaries,who spoke to CrossRiverWatch commended Obla for the gesture.
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