Don’t Be a Coward, Let’s Meet in Court Tomorrow – Mandate 27 Group Dares Aguocha

Don’t Be a Coward, Let’s Meet in Court Tomorrow – Mandate 27 Group Dares Aguocha

The rice saga in the Ikwuano/Umuahia North/Umuahia South Federal Constituency has now travelled from whispers in the villages to a graphic on a 50kg bag.

The image circulating online carries the headline “Obi Aguocha, Rice Ambassador? Where Is Our Rice?”, complete with a “Big Bull Premium Rice 50kg” label, a cap reading “No Yachts 2027” and the sly line “Same man… Different agenda?”. It is satire, but it reflects a very serious mood on the ground. The people want to know what became of the rice.

Let us recap how we got here. Long before Chief Charles Ogbonna (Evuleogu) released his video this week, the concern was already public. In August 2024, the honourable member’s own media office acknowledged that a planned protest centred on alleged lack of projects, accountable representation and the management of rice palliatives in the constituency. It was waved off as the work of mischief makers, and no distribution record was offered. The question simply waited for a louder voice.

That voice arrived when Chief Ogbonna (Evuleogu) alleged in a video that two trailer loads of rice meant for the constituents were diverted and sold. It is reported that each House member was given two trailers of rice for distribution in their constituency.

The constituents were then shown pictures of 5kg bags, even though what the Federal Government released was said to be 50kg bags. That is the arithmetic that has left the public asking where the original 50kg bags are, who received the 5kg bags, and where the remaining 45kg per bag went.

How did the honourable member respond? On October 21, his office issued a six-section statement denying any diversion, describing the allegation as malicious, listing political enemies and statutes, and promising to sue. The statement even addressed Chief Ogbonna (Evuleogu) directly, saying his wish would soon be granted and that they would surely sue him to court. Yet nowhere in it was there a waybill, a quantity received, a ward-by-ward distribution list or a single signed beneficiary register. Everything the public asked for was missing. Everything it did not ask for was present.

Defenders have since stepped in. One analyst argued that his own receipt of a bag in Umuhu Ward disproves the claim of wholesale diversion. But by his own admission, that experience was not an audit of the entire consignment. One bag in one ward is not the answer to two trailer loads.

This is where the dare comes in. Mandate 27 Group has watched the honourable member threaten litigation against those who ask about the rice, and its message is blunt: don’t be a coward, let’s meet in court today. If Aguocha believes the allegation is false and defamatory, the court is open. Nobody disputes his right to sue. The group simply says that the right to sue is not the same as the duty to answer, and that threats of prosecution must not become a shield against legitimate questions about public property.

A courtroom is where assertions must be proved. If the honourable member files his suit, he will be required to show how many bags were received, how they were repackaged, who got them and when. If Chief Ogbonna (Evuleogu) cannot back his claims, he will face the consequences. But if he can, the constituency will finally hear what it has waited for. Either way, the truth wins, and the only party who should fear that process is one with something to hide.

It also needs saying that asking where federal palliatives went is not cyberbullying, and it is not incitement. It is the ordinary duty of citizens in a democracy. Threatening those who ask, rather than answering them, sends exactly the wrong message to a constituency already struggling with the cost of living.

So the challenge stands. Publish the records, file the suit, or explain why neither is possible. The people of this constituency have patiently counted the bags they were shown, and they are not about to stop counting now.