How politicians turned flood into campaign tool

From Hope Abah Emmanuel, Makurdi, Tijani Labaran, Lokoja & Bassey Willie, Yenagoa

Political office seekers have turned the flood disaster in many parts of the country as campaign tool for the 2023 general elections. So far, some of the politicians have visited most of the states affected by the floods in various parts of the country.

Some states mostly affected by the floods are Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Edo, Lagos, Kano, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Jigawa, Benue, Anambra, Jigawa, Taraba, Bauchi and Kogi.

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The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, on October 20 announced the suspension of his campaigns billed to commence in Lafia on October 25 to enable him visit flood victims in Benue State.

Obi’s visit excited residents of Makurdi, the state capital, as they trooped out in their numbers to catch a glimpse of him. They were further elated to see him being ferried in a local canoe around some of the flooded suburbs of Makurdi, moments after he alighted from an aircraft.

Obi, thereafter, addressed the crowd shortly after the assessment of the flooded areas at Wadata Rice Mill, attributed the flood ravaging states in Nigeria to the failure of successive federal government in the country.

He donated N5million to sympathise with victims of the flood and those at the internally displaced persons camp in Daudu, saying the disaster was not controlled over the years, and the federal government was forewarned but they did not do the needful to mitigate the flood.

“The flood is not an accident. It was meant to happen. It was something the federal government could have controlled, but they failed to do something. 

“I have come to identify with the victims in my own little way,” he said.

He further said he suspended his campaign to go around the states of the country, including Benue, to sympathise with the people.

Earlier, the secretary to the Benue State Government, Professor Anthony Ijohor, who conducted the Labour Party presidential candidate round the areas, thanked him for coming to identify with Benue people.

Shortly after Obi’s visit, the wife of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, also visited the state in company of the wife of the party’s running mate, Mrs Nana Shettima.

The sympathisers donated items and funds to cushion the effects of the losses suffered by the affected people.

Mrs Tinubu also donated some relief materials, including cartons of indomie, spaghetti, macaroni, sugar, beverages, rubber cups and disposable plates to the state during the visit. She announced a N10m donation when she paid a courtesy visit to the Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom at the Government House in Makurdi.

Mrs Tinubu, a current senator, recalled her relationship with the people of Benue State, noting that what affects the people also affects her.

She was received by the wife of the Benue governor, Dr Eunice Ortom, was accompanied by Mrs Shettima, Mrs Regina Akume, the APC governorship candidate, Hyacinth Alia and his running mate, Sam Ode, among others.

They were later conveyed in a motorcade to the Makafa Children Park, where the APC held a mini-rally before the women’s departure in a waiting aircraft at the Makurdi NAF Base.

Earlier, on October 23, the APC presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, donated the N100m to flood victims in Kano State.

While calling for sustained prayers to end flood disasters in the state and country in general, Tinubu said the unity in diversity, peace and prosperity of Nigeria were the focus of his presidential ambition.

Bayelsa was the next state where politicians took turns to sympathise with victims of floods, with the LP presidential candidate, Obi, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag-bearer, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, making donations and sympathising with the victims. 

More visitors were to follow as former President Goodluck Jonathan, on October 27, also visited flood victims in his native Otuoke. 

Speaking to the victims at the Oxbow Lake Pavilion, Yenogoa, Obi lamented the delayed response of the federal government, three weeks after the flooding in Bayelsa State. 

Obi, who made an undisclosed donation to the victims, said flying into the state in a chopper gave him a better aerial view of the situation, and that the state needed urgent help.

Atiku donated N55m to victims of the flooding in Bayelsa, describing it as a token to support the recovery process of those affected. 

Describing the disaster as disheartening, he lamented its effect on the lives and economy of people of the state, and called on the federal government and public-spirited individuals and organisations to support Bayelsa in this difficult moment. 

He said that if elected president he would commit to completing the dam in Adamawa State and taking other necessary measures to ensure that Nigeria does not suffer this magnitude of damage as a result of flooding. 

The PDP candidate offered scholarship up to university level to children of the late footballer, Ernest Peremobowei, who drowned after saving five other victims of the flood in a boat mishap. 

The impact of the flood in Bayelsa also attracted the attention of a former governor and the senator representing Bayelsa West, Senator Seriake Dickson, who donated N26m and food items to flood victims in the senatorial district.

Dickson, a PDP candidate in the zone for 2023 general elections, made his first donation on ward basis across the district, where N400,000 was given to each ward and food items, while N5m was given to displaced persons in Yenagoa, the state capital.

Few days later, his friends and supporters contributed another N11m for donation to the flood victims.

Other candidates for state constituencies such as the PDP candidates for Yenagoa constituency 1, Chief (Mrs) Ayibanegiyefa Egba and her counterpart in constituency ll, Ebiuwou Obiyai, visited and cooked for displaced persons at the Oxbow Lake camp in Yenagoa.

In Sagbama constituency lll, the PDP candidate and former deputy chief of staff to former Governor Seriake Dickson, Chief Mrs Ebizi Ndiomu-Brown, donated food and other items to flood victims.

Similarly, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate in Kolokuma/Opokuma constituency l, Dr Appah Suoyo Kelvin, and the Young Progressives Party (YPP) candidate for the Bayelsa West senatorial district, Mrs Tombra Jennifer-Mohammed, visited all the flooded villages in their constituencies with food items and cash to victims. Some of the items were branded with their political parties’ logos.

Obi later visited the flood-affected areas of Anambra State, such as Ogbaru Local Government Area, Anam in Anambra West Local Government and Umueri in Anambra East Local Government Area, where he made donations to victims.

Obi also visited victims of flooding in Kogi and Taraba states, where crowds of community members surged towards his embrace at the venues he landed in Idah and Ibi local government areas.

Obi, who was received by the Atta Igala, Matthew Opaluwa Oguche Akpa and Catholic bishops in Idah, promised to mobilise support for flood affected areas of the state. 

The flooding had affected many parts of the state, causing food and health challenges in Ajaokuta, Bassa, Ofu, Kogi, Lokoja, Idah, Omala, Ibaji, Igala Mela/Odolu and Adavi.

Speaking in Ibi Local Government Area, Taraba State on October 26, Obi called on the federal government to declare a state of emergency on all flood affected areas across the country.

“What the federal government has to do to stop this is to ensure that the waters are de-silted.

“The rivers have all been silted and we need to work on them. This is easy; it is done all over the world,” he said.

Similarly, the APC Women Campaign Council, led by its national coordinator, Asabe Vilita Bashir, visited Kogi State and donated relief materials to flood victims.

While visiting Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State and the Emir of Bauchi, Rilwanu Suleman to commiserate with victims of floods, Obi, in the company of his running mate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, called for a high-powered federal government delegation to the state to assess the damage of the disaster, with a view to supporting the victims.

However, observers have criticised the activities of the politicians in the flood affected areas, wondering whether their sudden show of care would be extended to other times when there is no election.

Many analysts criticised Tinubu’s wife for using a Nigerian Air Force presidential aircraft, which they said was an abuse of public resources.

Analysts also criticised Obi’s use of LP branded wears during his visit to displaced persons camps in Benue State as a subtle means of campaign.

They also criticised his boat tour of flood affected areas in almost all the states he visited without a life jacket or any protective wear as “eye-service.”

Atiku has also been criticised for visiting flood victims in Bayelsa with a PDP branded face cap, branded cheque and avoiding the main flooded areas.