By Emeka Nze
Abuja
The dreams of over 5,000 indigent Nigerians who hoped to receive Christmas bonanza from an Abuja based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Say Yes To My Needs (SYTMN) were shattered at the weekend as it turned out that the promise of poverty alleviation became a scam aimed at extorting money from them.
The hopefuls who thronged the Utako Primary School, Abuja venue of the event as early as 9am on Saturday, went home disappointed even after buying the ticket sold for N1000 per person.
Men of the Nigerian Police and the Nigeria Civil Defence and Security Corps (NCDSC) had earlier cordoned the schools premises to maintain law and order, but representatives of the NGO failed to turn up.
Blueprint gathered that the group had earlier promised to give each person who bought the ticket a 25kg bag of rice and vegetable oil, while others were to receive live chicken, amongst other items.
But, while the programme was on, the NGO through its numerous coordinators, who sold tickets continued to sell until the expected 3000 people skyrocketed to over 5,000.
Piqued by the sight of few bags of rice and live chickens brought into the venue, the crowd became restive and pandemonium ensued leading to the abrupt end of the event and dispersing of the crowd by the police.
One of the coordinators, Deacon Emeka Nwanyanwu, who spoke with newsmen said those who bought ticket were insistent on going home with the items.
Nwanyanwu narrated that he suspected foul play when the organisers said they would not be able to give the 25kg bag of rice and promised to scale it down to 10kg bag.
