One Man, Two Stories: Obi Aguocha and the Palliative Rice He Says He Never Received – By Mandate 27

One Man, Two Stories: Obi Aguocha and the Palliative Rice He Says He Never Received – By Mandate 27 Group

There is an old saying that lies may tarry for a night, but truth comes in the morning. Today, on a programme aired on Flow FM, the morning arrived for the Honourable member representing Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South Federal Constituency, Obi Aguocha. In a stunning declaration, he told listeners that he never received any rice from the Federal Government.

The people of this constituency should pause and let that sink in. Over the past two weeks, his own media aides have told the public the opposite. They said the rice he received from the Federal Government was adequately distributed to all the wards in Ikwuano, Umuahia North and Umuahia South. They did not say it quietly. They said it with confidence, as proof of his diligence and of a lawmaker who delivers to his people.

Both statements cannot be true. Either he received the rice and his aides spoke the truth, or he never received it and his aides invented a distribution that never happened. Either way, the people have been misled by the same camp, within the same fortnight, about the same bags of rice.

## The Genesis of the Palliative

To see why this matters, we must recall where the palliative came from. When the removal of the fuel subsidy tightened the belt on ordinary Nigerians, the Federal Government announced a package of relief measures. Part of that package was rice, released to be shared with vulnerable citizens across the country. Members of the National Assembly, including the Honourable members of the Green Chamber, were given a role in getting that relief to their constituents.

The House of Representatives itself has publicly acknowledged that the Federal Government provided rice for distribution to constituencies as part of these measures. It is therefore no secret, and no rumour. It is a matter of record that members of that chamber were involved in the palliative arrangement.

Cash aid has also been part of the public conversation around the palliatives. The House has disputed some of the figures in circulation, so this writer will not dwell on amounts. But the rice is not in dispute. The rice came. It was meant for the people. Whether the Honourable member received it is a question he has now answered in two contradictory ways.

## Which Version Will His Followers Believe?

This is the question that should trouble every supporter of Hon. Aguocha. His media team has spent two full weeks telling the constituency that the rice was received and shared across the wards. Today, on Flow FM, the man himself denied ever receiving any.

If his followers believe the aides, they must conclude that their lawmaker spoke falsely on the radio. If they believe the lawmaker, they must conclude that the aides misled them for two weeks. There is no third reading. In either case, the credibility of this political camp has collapsed under its own contradiction.

Leadership is about consistency. A representative who cannot keep his story straight about something as simple as bags of rice should not be trusted with the far heavier burden of speaking for hundreds of thousands of people. When the spokesmen say one thing and the principal says another, the public is entitled to ask who is managing the truth, and for whose benefit.

## The Burden of Accountability

Nobody is asking the Honourable member to do the impossible. We ask only for a plain account. How much rice was received? When did it arrive? Who handled it? Which wards got it, and in what quantities? If the distribution was as thorough as his aides claim, the records will show it. If nothing was received, then his aides must explain why they told the constituency otherwise for two weeks.

Transparency is not a favour a representative grants his people. It is a duty he owes them. He has repeatedly spoken of accountability as the heart of his service, and today’s Flow FM denial is the perfect opportunity to prove it. Let him publish the delivery records, the waybills and the ward-by-ward list. Let the people see for themselves.

Until then, the constituency has been handed two stories, and the man who is supposed to be their voice has contradicted his own camp on the record. Lies may tarry for a night, but trust comes in the morning. This morning, sadly, he alone lied and he alone told the truth. The people of Ikwuano, Umuahia North and Umuahia South deserve to know which is which.