N500 Billion SIP: Atiku’s Spokesman Says He Stands With Aisha Buhari

Atiku Abubakar’s media spokesman, Segun Showunmi has said that he stands with First Lady Aisha Buhari on the claim that the N500 billion Social Intervention Programme, SIP of the Federal Government was a failure in the North.

Showunmi in an interview said the realities on the ground which Mrs. Buhari used in describing the SIP as failed in the North were also reflected in the South making the programme a failure.

Showunmi spoke on Channels Television on Monday morning even as a member of the All Progressives Congress, 2019 APC Presidential Campaign Council, Hakeem Akintayo blamed the 16 years of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP rule for the development in the country today.

Akintayo who spoke on the same programme also accused the PDP of mischief in exaggerating the assertions of the First Lady.

Responding to Mrs. Buhari’s claim that the SIP programme had not made impact on the people, Showunmi who is director of strategic communications in the Atiku Abubakar Campaign said:

“On this score, I stand with Aisha Buhari. When you look at the realities on ground, you only see miseries. If your social investment scheme is working well, then your poverty indicators should be showing that people are migrating steadily out of poverty.

“The First Lady, the wife of the President says it is a sham, I call it a sham. If she calls it a sham, all Nigerians call it a sham.

“You don’t go to any country in the world and see people throwing away money in the market. So, if the First Lady calls it a joke, I think that is good enough, it is a joke

“If you say you are running a social intervention scheme of this nature and the poster girl of your government, the First Lady tells you it is a sham, you think I should call it anything other than a sham? It is a sham. They should go and figure out where they put our money.”

“When they said that they were giving out money, we called out and said that that was not the way to go, that you needed to be more systemic to get people out of poverty. So, when they said they were giving out money, we said that we are not getting any evidence that this money was getting to the right place and that we hope you are not appropriating money that your cronies are stealing and now the First Lady has come out to say that we were right,” Showunmi said.

Responding, Akintayo poured the blame on the PDP even as he said the SIP through the school feeding programme had made three positives in boosting the agricultural sector, increasing school enrolment and reducing unemployment.

“The PDP if they had done the right thing for 16 years, Nigeria will not be in this position now,” he said.

Asked by the anchor whether he was still blaming the PDP? He said:

“Yes, we have to because if we know where we are coming from we will know where we are going to.

“The first lady’s opinion was to encourage more efforts towards making the programme a success. There are people who have benefited but they are not visible as they should and more needs to be done and I think that was the message of the first lady.

“Most governors knowing that the programme is going to succeed jettisoned the idea especially the PDP governors.

“It is only PDP with their mischievous character and way of life they will only exaggerate opinion. The First Lady is not saying that the thing is not working, but more needs to be done.”

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