| Following the report that the member representing Anambra East and West Federal Constituency, Chief Chinedu Obidigwe is sending 40 farmers to Egypt for training, some have alleged that the report is far from the truth as none of the people in the entourage is a farmer especially those from Anambra West.
In an unconfirmed statement purportedly issued by the Chairman, Anambra West Farmers Association, the Association distanced itself from the trip. “Our attention has been drawn to news circulating online that farmers from Anambra West were sent to Egypt for training or whatever. This is to inform the general public that there is no single farmer from Anambra West sent to Egypt. General public should disregard the news from political errand boys as the news is false.”
The writer however added, “Yes, let him sponsor known farmers that live within Anambra West and East. None of these old women and men lives in neither Anambra West nor East, no single person among them has a farm anywhere. It’s right time we stop deceiving ourselves. This trip is a holiday trip for his loyalists and party members.”
Another respondent said, “I wonder how some of us will be sharing it. I heard before the travel that he is taking some of the party members to vacation in Egypt. Ten people would have been ok for the travel, if they changed their topic from vacation to training. Then, the ten people will come back and train others to save money and provide effectiveness. It is high time we speak out to end all these insult to our people.”
Reacting to the insinuations, Senior Special Assistant to Obidigwe on Media, Chief Dominic Okagbue said, “It is not true that they are not farmers. In fact, all the women leaders of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) from Anambra East and West made the list; and from all indications they are all subsistent farmers. “The perception is nothing but that of enemies of progress. Therefore, no one should mind them, because they are the same people who never wanted people to be empowered. If not, in the history of Anambra East and West Federal Constituency, especially from 1999, who else has done this kind of gestures even if it is for his loyalists.”
Okagbue insisted that the major objective of Obidigwe for organizing the trip to Egypt is for the 40 people to learn how to engage in mechanised small scale farming, wet and dry season farming, methods of preservation of agricultural produce, amongst others.
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