By Sunny A. David
A man drew our correspondent’s attention at Ekwueme Square in Awka, Anambra State, on Tuesday evening, when he bitterly lamented that he had been disgraced by an APC mobiliser.
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, held his rally in the state on Tuesday, and the venue was filled to the brim with supposed supporters.
The man, Mr Okoye, was unhappy that after being mobilised to the rally from Onitsha, he was given only N1,000 as payment.
Our correspondent’s attention was drawn when the man ranted in Igbo: “Kedu udi disgration, disgracement di ife a?“
Apparently, the man meant, “What kind of disgrace is this?”
When our correspondent approached him for an anonymous and friendly chat, Okoye he had left his house as early as 6 a.m. to join other people at a primary school field for onward movement to Awka, and they arrived Awka at about 8 a.m.
“What is the time now, and I’m still in Awka, just for N1,000. This is disgration, no, disgracement for me,” the man retorted.
Though he declined a formal interview, the man who gave his name as Okoye said he was a carpenter, and would have been able to accomplish something that day if he had stayed back in his shop.
When asked if he thought the APC had deceived him, he said: “No, it is our coordinator that deceived us. He may have been given a lot of money to give to us, but he is giving us N1,000 each.”
Meanwhile, at about 7 p.m., members of Nnamdi Azikiwe University students’ union were still stranded at Ekwueme Square, where they were making calls to the SUG president over their mobilisation fee.
The students’ union government of the institution had read out a letter at the rally, endorsing Tinubu.
A student, who gave his name as Frank, and who approached the reporter for transport fare back to Ifite, said: “Our leader told us to wait, and we thought he was going to bring money, but up till now, we have not seen him.”
He insisted that he didn’t have transport fare, else he would have left the scene. He pleaded with our correspondent to give him money, but when our correspondent said he didn’t have any, Frank said he had N100 and needed to make it up to be able to get back to his lodge.
