The Chairman of Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State, Ezekiel Chukwu, has been accused of distributing rotten COVID-19 palliatives that he hoarded in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Herald learnt that the materials were distributed today, April 19, months after they were initially meant to be distributed.
Mobile phone footage currently circulating on social media shows bags of garri, maize and other grains in stacks as a narrator reveals that they are “rotten”, “damaged”.
The narrator, whose face is not shown in the footage, can be heard saying, “This is palliative distributed by the Local Government Chairman of Aninri local government.
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“We are receiving this palliative now; today is 19th of April, 2021, against since last year.
“If you watch here (he pans in on the bags of grains), you’ll see how damaged these things are; too damaged.
“They have been condemned now that they are (being) released to the public.
“How can one eat condemned food stocked for one good year?”
Watch video:
Ezekiel Chukwu, chairman of Aninri LG in Enugu, is alleged to have hoarded palliatives meant for distribution during the heat of #COVID19.
This video was shot TODAY, 19 April, after the rotten items were distributed. pic.twitter.com/j7toV7zsAx
— Chxta (@Chxta) April 19, 2021
Beginning on October 22, 2020, many Nigerians stormed warehouses where many state governments stored COVID-19 palliatives and looted them.
Some of the affected states were Lagos, Osun, Taraba, Kwara, Kaduna, Adamawa, Plateau and Cross River, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
They blamed the state governments for hoarding palliatives that they said should have been distributed in the heat of the pandemic in the country.