By Mohammed Ismail
Call it a revolution against hunger and you will not be wrong. The recent palliative distribution of assorted food items by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, (MNR), Nigeria’s National Security Adviser (NSA) across every nook and cranny of Adamawa State is simply unprecedented in size, content and reach.
How that kind of massive distribution of palliatives took place in complete silence and with total ease, swiftness and efficiency is a pointer to the meticulous manner in which our NSA carry out his functions and responsibilities. Such meticulous and swift response to national crisis without raising a voice of distress led to the almost instant rescue of abducted Kaduna schoolchildren. Such feat earned our NSA reverence, accolades and approbation by no less person’s than the president himself, the governor of Kaduna State and all stakeholders in the security circle.
In the same vein, the NSA’s silent but revolutionary approach to tackling the security challenges bedeviling Nigeria has led to monumental successes in the fight against crime and criminality across Nigeria such as containing the dreaded IPOB menace in the south east which led to the total stoppage of the notorious sit at home order. In the south west, the same silent revolution has quietened the activities of the notorious Amotekun security outfit.
Kaduna/Abuja highway which has over the years earned notoriety for being the haven of notorious outlaws and kidnappers has been freed while kidnapping in many states including Adamawa has been decimated to a significant level. In fact, since his coming, the NSA has recorded tremendous milestones in restoring sanity and order in Nigeria albeit in silence.
Back to our topic, it will be appropriate to mention how such purposeful and deliberate act of kindness personally touched me even though I was completely oblivious that such exercise was ongoing in the state.
While on a working tour in Bauchi State in the second week of Ramadan, my wife called my attention to the fact that bags of rice have been brought home. Since I didn’t arranged for such bags to be brought, I told her that the rice might have been brought home by mistake and should tell the messenger that he has brought the items to the wrong destination.
But immediately the bearer of the food items who was already given my phone number called and told me that the items were meant for me and there was no mistake in the address. I asked who sent the items but he declined to tell me the identity of the “good Samaritan” as he said he was barred from mentioning the name behind the gesture. I was expecting to be called later and be told that the items were brought to my home in error but up to the time I came back to Yola, that did not happen.
Upon my arrival, I started making inquiries to know the person behind such gesture and my enquiries led me to understand that the gesture was from no other than Mallam Nuhu Ribadu our NSA. I was told that already, such palliatives have reached hundreds of families across Adamawa State.
I was really baffled that a politician could carry out such a massive palliative distribution of food items at a time of food crisis without any paparazzi and without making any political capital out of it. Such gesture is in sync with the character and person of Makkam Nuhu Ribadu who would do even much more for the people without making a fuss out of it. For him, such gestures should be done solely to turn around the lives of the people but not as a popularity seeking stunt.
Despite the disposition of the NSA to ensure that the gesture was kept under wraps, I felt that such a fit of ebbulience ought to be brought to the public realm because of the tendency to spur others to also copy such acts of kindness for the benefit of the people who are in dire need of support. For that singular reason, I embarked on further inquiries to understand the scale and outreach of the palliatives distribution and my findings were as revealing as they were mind boggling because of the sheer size of the food items dished out to the people.
Another thing that took me off guard is the realization that the items were distributed to a large creme of Adamawa people including the vulnerable population, and even members of opposition groups within the APC fold as the gesture as I was told, was done solely with the mindset to help the people in times of economic distress devoid of partisan considerations.
In line with the saying that charity begins at home, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu ensures that the APC family was saturated with the palliatives. To that effect, the APC exco from the ward level, LG level and state exco across the 21 LGs of the state all benefitted from the palliatives.
In the same breadth, youths and women groups in the party, social media supporters of the party and even conventional praise singers of the party were carried along with some of them saying the event marked the first time they were considered for such benefits in the history of the party.
I also learnt that no fewer than 700 bags of rice was distributed in Dodore quarters, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu’s immediate constituency to friends, family members and associates.
A prominent Jumaat mosque Imam in Yola confided in me that Ribadu has extended such palliatives to all the Jumaat Mosques in the state. In the same vein, Islamic clerics in the state also corroborated the position of the Imam by disclosing to me that they were also affected by the kind gesture.
Some clergymen also confided in me that they received the goodwill of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu through party leadership.
Similarly, a ward head in Yola told me that all the ward heads in Yola (about 500 of them) also benefitted from the gesture. In the same stead, first class emirs and chiefs, district heads and village heads also benefitted from the intervention.
Members of the Blackcap movement, a renowned pressure group also told me that they were touched by the kind gesture and olive branch extended by the NSA. I was told that even undertakers and security operatives manning Yola cemetery also benefitted from the intervention.
A renowned Binani supporter also told me that in his attempt to carry everyone along, supporters of the erstwhile gubernatorial candidate were carried along expressing their gratitude for the extension of love and olive branch to them.
Despite the fact that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu would want the event to be completely shrouded in secrecy as he sees it as his own contribution to mankind, I felt such spectacular gesture should be brought to the fore, for its contagious tendency and for record purpose.
Ismail is the Editor-In-Chief of FACTCHECKNEWS.