Ezekwesili Lays New Charge Against Tinubu’s Govt

Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s government’s reaction to the recent food stampedes in various parts of the country.

Ezekwesilil alleges that the government is out of touch with the struggles of ordinary Nigerians and taken aim at government officials who expressed anger at the citizens and organizations distributing food, which led to the stampedes.

In a post on X, Ezekwesili questioned why government officials had not recognized how their repeated leadership failures had turned what should have been peaceful charity events into deadly stampedes. She pointed out that the generosity of individuals and organizations, both local and abroad, had been keeping the poorest Nigerians afloat, even as the government failed to provide adequate support.

Ezekwesili went on to pray for the humanitarians who had been charged with the stampede incidents. She wrote, “Still on the food stampedes across the country. What are these self-righteous indignation and outrage from public officials and institutions all about? I mean, is it that the well-fed of our society fail to see that it is actually the generosity and social safety net being provided by individuals- here at home and abroad – and their organizations that have kept the poor of the Land going?”

She also expressed frustration with the government’s attitude, saying, “Reading the statements of @officialABAT, the IG of @PoliceNG, @nassnigeria officials and their many senior, junior and minion public officials as well as their allies, you can tell how totally detached from reality these people all are.” She criticized public officials for being out of touch with the dire situation that many Nigerians face, including the risk of death just to secure food for their families.

Ezekwesili continued, “These self-indulgent folks are cocooned away in luxury and blind to how desperate the times are for their fellow Nigerians who now embrace the risk of death to get a ‘loaf of bread’ for themselves and their children.” She further questioned how these leaders failed to see that their failures had turned food charity events, which were once safe, into dangerous situations.

She added, “Do these public officials not understand that unlike a few Nigerians that used to need handouts in the past, the majority now do, and that it is the massive increase that has placed inordinate pressure on the capacity of the humanitarians?” Ezekwesili argued that humility and empathy were sorely lacking among public officials and urged them to stop criticizing those who were trying to help fill the gap left by the government’s failures.

Finally, Ezekwesili hoped that the courts would approach the cases of the arrested humanitarians on trial over the stampede deaths with fairness.

“I hope the courts will act in the spirit of jurisprudence and not mere legalism on the matters of benefactors being held in custody for ‘doing good that went wrong.’” She concluded by offering condolences to the families of the victims of the food stampedes, saying, “May God continue to comfort the families of the victims of the food stampedes.”

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