The African Action Congress (AAC) chapter in Akwa Ibom State has rejected four bags of rice that were allegedly provided by the federal government as a temporary fix to soften the negative economic consequences of the elimination of subsidies.

The palliative arrangement was specifically designed “to mock and manipulate the intelligence of Nigerians,” according to Elder Utip Etiebiet, the state’s AAC chairman.

Etiebet bemoaned the fact that the state’s palliative was politicised and distributed along party lines.

Etiebet said in Uyo, the state capital, that the Inter-Party Advisory Council, or IPAC, which distributed the relief supplies, got the party’s portion of the four sacks of rice it had received from the state government.

According to Etiebet, IPAC has received a letter to that effect.

Etiebet declared: “Following the position of my party, African Action Congress, AAC, that the palliative by the Federal Government of Nigeria is a hoax, dishonest, and a questionable manner of acting on the intellect of Nigerians, we now reject the rice offer of four bags that were made to the party.

“AAC is not a camp for refugees, and we have never behaved in a way that would cause four bags of rice to be sent to the office. Since AAC is not a refugee camp, all of our members have agreed that they do not need to survive on palliative care.