Wife of the President, Hajia Aisha Buhari has said it was President Muhammadu Buhari who first complained on the failure of the Social Investment Programme before her public lamentation.
She said this in Katsima on Saturday when her team, Future Assured went to distribute food items and other materials to the people of the state.
According to Daily Trust, the First Lady also talked about the banditry in the country saying “if it’s not stopped, all of us will be kidnapped.
She said: “when the Katsina SSG spoke out, I sent it to all security outfits in the country. I told them it’s either they go and help out or allow us all to be killed”.
“It is a must for people to come out and speak. Anything that is not right; people should say it, no matter what, she said.”
Commenting on the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme (SIP), the President’s wife said, “My husband was the first to talk about people not getting the N10,000 palliatives. He asked people who didn’t get to speak out. It’s not Aisha but the President that said so.”
In his remarks, the Emir of Katsina, Abdulmumin Usman, who spoke through the Magajin Garin Katsina, Aminu Abdulmumini, said people needed peace to be able to return to their farms.
Later at Batsari, Aisha noted that people of the state were in dire need of the SIP.
The pet project of the President’s wife, Future Assured, distributed food items and clothing to the victims.
Aisha said she was in the state to sympathise with the victims and show concern over the activities of bandits who have made life unbearable for the locals.
One of the victims, who spoke on behalf of the IDPs, Fatima Maiwaina Kasai, demanded their share of the N10,000 being distributed by the Federal Government as support to women and the less privileged.
In her response, Aisha said the President had made available N500 billion under the Social Investment Programme.
“At this juncture we are calling on the social investment programme to rush to Katsina and help them with the N10,000; they are really in need.
“This is a state where we got N1.2 million votes free of charge. We did not pay anybody to vote for us; they voted for us out of trust and they need to be taken care of. Whatever that is due to them, they need to get it. We don’t need to fight for it,” she said.
Speaking, the state Executive Secretary of SEMA, Babangida Nasamu, said in Batsari LGA, about 28 villages were sacked.
According to him, the state government is doing all it can to support the victims, adding, “NEMA and the national refugee commission must step in to support. They have in the past supported us but we need them now more than ever.
“We wrote to them and are waiting for them to come and support us as the burden is too much.
(Daily Trust)
