The Edo State Coordinator of the City Boy Movement, Dr. Paddy Iyamu, on Monday described as “misleading and unfounded” the claim that the low turnout at the group’s empowerment programme held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium on Saturday was because the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has been rejected by the people.
Dismissing the narrative while speaking at the commencement of distribution of empowerment items in Benin City, Iyamu explained that only 6,000 beneficiaries were invited to the event, making it impossible to occupy the 14,000-capacity stadium.
“This is what happened last Saturday at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium. We had 6,000 beneficiaries gathered, and because we did not want any stampede, we decided to decentralise it all through till Friday until everybody gets their items,” he said.
He further noted that the empowerment initiative covered beneficiaries across the South-South region, with about 2,000 drawn from the 18 local government areas of Edo State, while participants from Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa states had already received their items.
“There are some speculations that the stadium was not filled to capacity because Edo people rejected the APC; that is a big lie. The stadium is a 14,000-seating capacity and the beneficiaries were 6,000 and there is no way 6,000 will fill a 14,000-seating capacity,” Iyamu stated.
Iyamu added that lessons from past incidents in Owerri, Imo State, informed the organisers’ decision to restrict access strictly to verified beneficiaries to ensure orderliness and prevent disruptions during the programme.
“We did that because we didn’t want a repeat of what happened in Owerri. It is better we have a decent empowerment programme than having a programme that will be stampeded and the purpose defeated,” he said.
He emphasised that the initiative, spearheaded by Seyi Tinubu, was aimed at genuine economic empowerment rather than political patronage, noting that beneficiaries were selected across party lines, including persons living with disabilities.
Items distributed to the beneficiaries included deep freezers, sewing machines, buses, tricycles, laptops, hairdressing kits and wheelchairs.
One of the beneficiaries, Emmanuel Bawa, expressed gratitude for the support and pledged to utilise the assistance to improve his livelihood.