The Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Abdulaziz Yari, has acknowledged the hunger and economic hardship facing Nigerians but argued that hardworking people should still be able to afford food.
Yari made the statement during the APC presidential campaign rally in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, while addressing party supporters.
The former governor of Zamfara State argued that the availability of food items in markets showed that Nigeria was not necessarily facing a shortage of food, insisting that the major challenge was whether people had enough money to purchase what they needed.
In a video circulating on social media, Yari asked residents of Akwa Ibom whether they had ever gone to the market with money only to discover that rice and other food items were unavailable.
“Just as I said, we have hunger. Let me ask a question here. Akwa Ibom people, from where I came from, we have food in the market,” he said.
He further questioned whether anyone with money in their pocket had visited a market and returned without buying food because the items were unavailable.
“I don’t know, in Akwa Ibom, is there any person who took his money to the market and found out there’s no rice? Is there anybody with money in his pocket who goes to the market to get foodstuffs and says that there’s no foodstuffs in the market?” Yari asked.
According to him, hunger should be defined by the absence of food in the market rather than people’s inability to afford available food items.
He maintained that Nigerians who were willing to work hard should be able to provide food for themselves and their families.
“If there’s no food in the market, that’s what we are calling hunger. But anyone who is not a lazy person, definitely he would have food on his table,” the APC campaign director-general stated.
His comments come amid widespread concerns over the rising cost of living, food prices and the financial difficulties confronting many Nigerian households.
The remarks are likely to generate reactions, particularly among Nigerians struggling to cope with the high cost of food and other essential commodities.
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