City boy movement coordinator debunks low turnout claims in Edo

The Edo State Coordinator of the City Boy Movement, Dr Paddy Iyamu, on Monday dismissed claims that there was low turnout at the empowerment programme organised by the body on Friday.

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 for them to occupy the 14,000-capacity stadium, adding that insinuations of political rejection were misleading and unfounded.

He said the decision to allow only 6000 beneficiaries into the stadium was to avoid a stampede as experienced in Owerri, Imo State.

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.

“The sharing of items today (Monday) 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 decentralise it all through till Friday, until everybody gets 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-seat capacity edifice, and the beneficiaries were 6,000, and there is no way 6,000 people will fill a 14,000 seating capacity.

“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, while one of the beneficiaries, Emmanuel Bawa, expressed gratitude for the support and pledged to utilise the assistance to improve his livelihood.

The PUNCH reported that the Minister of State for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, on Friday said the City Boy Movement was designed to bridge the gap between leadership and young Nigerians.

Olawande stated this in Benin during the City Boy Movement leadership’s tour of the South-South.

The delegation was led by its Grand Patron, Seyi Tinubu, alongside key officials, including the Director-General of the movement, Francis Oluwatosin Shola.

He noted that young Nigerians needed to be strategically positioned in governance and nation-building, adding that the South-South tour, which began in Edo State, would serve as a rallying point to mobilise, inspire, and awaken young people across the region.