IYC demands probe on ministers for alleged claims of bias
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, has been accused by the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide of bias following her recent comments that Bayelsa is not among the top 10 states impacted by the flood.
The minster’s statement has been termed as “unbelievable, irresponsible, insensitive and provocative”The IYC President, Peter Timothy Igbifa and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to probe her handling of the disaster across the country.
Igbifa Speaking on Sunday in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, observed that the minister may have relied on arm chair statistics she generated from the comfort of her home and not from any field investigations and insisted that Farouq neither visited Bayelsa nor sent a team to assess the reality of flood situations in the state.
Igbifa contradicted the minister saying Bayelsa remained the most affected state as all the eight local government areas of the state were under water.
He said: “The entire state was under water. Houses were submerged to roofing levels, all farmlands were swept away, many people died including people from the same families. All public institutions, markets, schools, worship centres were all submerged.
“There was humanitarian crisis already because food-bearing vehicles could not access the state. The situation was so terrible that sympathisers flew into the state to identify with the state.
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“What exactly is the minister saying? Did she travel to Mars or Pluto when all these things happened? Is she playing party or ethnic politics? We are calling on President Buhari to probe the minister and how she handled the assignment he gave to her concerning the flood.”
Igbifa reminded the minister that Bayelsa remained one of the states sustaining the country economically and that the minister’s remarks showed the Federal Government failed to identify with the state in its most terrible time.
(New Telegraph)
