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From Tony Osauzo, Benin
The Edo State Coordinator of the City Boy Movement, Dr. Paddy Iyamu, yesterday, dismissed claims that the low turnout at the empowerment programme held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium was due to rejection of the All Progressives Congress (APC), arguing that the figure of beneficiaries could not have filled the stadium’s capacity.
Iyamu, who stated this at the commencement of distribution of empowerment items in Benin City, explained that only 6,000 beneficiaries were invited to the event, making it impossible to occupy the 14,000-capacity stadium.
He said the insinuations of political rejection were misleading and unfounded.
“This is the implementation of what happened last Saturday at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium. We had 6,000 beneficiaries gathered and because we didn’t want any stampede, we decided to decentralize it all through till Friday until everybody gets their items,” he said.
He further explained 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.
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“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 has 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 said.
He disclosed 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,” Dr. Iyamu further explained.
He emphasised that the initiative, spearheaded by Seyi Tinubu, was aimed at genuine economic empowerment rather than political patronage, revealing 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.
