Following the recent donation of ₦50 million to market women in Plateau State by Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda Goshwe, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, a former media aide to ex-Governor Simon Bako Lalong, Comrade Promise Yatu, has strongly criticized the gesture, describing it as political hypocrisy disguised as humanitarianism.
In a statement titled “Crocodile Tears: Hypocrisy, Masquerading as Humanitarianism,” Yatu accused the APC National Chairman of using the event to score political points rather than to genuinely alleviate poverty.
He said the event at the Millennial International Event Centre in Jos was “a spectacle of sanctimony,” accusing Prof. Nentawe of “advertising false compassion and displaying a performance of spurious benevolence and political blackmail through a grand theatre of deceit.”
According to Yatu, the ₦50 million disbursed to market women under the Renewed Hope for GenerationNext Empowerment Program was nothing more than a publicity stunt aimed at diverting attention from the failures of the ruling party.
He further stated, “Under the blinding lights and before a discreetly curated audience, he distributed tokenistic grants as though dispensing justice while cameras captured every choreographed gesture, but behind the carefully crafted spectacle lies a cruel truth; hunger weaponized, misery commodified, and suffering repackaged for political gain.”
The former aide alleged that the APC Chairman’s action was an attempt to “repackage the same poverty his party created into political capital.”
In his words, “It was a scene not of leadership but of a merchant of poverty peddling crocodile tears, trying desperately to sell a lie to the people of Plateau and the world.”
Yatu argued that the ruling APC cannot claim to be solving the same economic problems it created. “Indeed, I say, that’s not humanitarianism, but a cheap political extortion, dressed in humanitarian robes: a calculated marketing stunt from the poverty created by his party’s policies.”
He also accused Prof. Nentawe of misrepresenting the beneficiaries, saying they were not displaced persons as claimed, but traders relocated for development purposes.
Yatu questioned the Minister’s silence during times of crisis in Plateau, saying, “Where was your voice or humanitarian aid when marauders invaded Chakfem in Mangu, Barkin Ladi, Bokkos, Bassa villages, etc? Where was your outrage when markets were torched and farmlands seized by the Fulani militia?”
He described the APC National Chairman as a “political merchant peddling poverty for personal relevance,” adding that his recent actions were driven by “bitterness and insecurity rather than genuine concern for the people.”
“A party that manufactures poverty can not convincingly sell itself as the cure. A leadership that nurtured insecurity can not credibly parade itself as a saviour,” Yatu declared.
He urged Prof. Nentawe to focus on his responsibilities as Minister of Humanitarian Affairs by leading federal reconstruction and resettlement programs rather than organizing “empowerment carnivals for headlines.”
According to him, the people of Plateau are aware of the motives behind such gestures and will not be deceived by temporary handouts.
Yatu concluded by advising the APC Chairman to direct his energy toward addressing poverty, insecurity, and underdevelopment rather than undermining Governor Caleb Mutfwang, saying that “history is taking notes, and its ink does not fade.”
