Female Politician, Elebute-Halle, Disburses N20m to Poor Parents, Students in Ekiti

Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti 

In her resolve to help the less-privileged and vulnerable people, especially single parents, orphans, and widows, during this period of economic quagmire, Erelu Kemi Elebute-Halle, a female gubernatorial candidate in the 2022 Ekiti guber elections under the Action Democratic Party (ADP), has distributed relief materials worth N20 million to students and parents in three communities in the state. 

The beneficiaries were from Oke Ayedun, Odo Ayedun, in Ikole LGA, and Igbara Odo Ekiti, in Ekiti South-West Local Government Area.

Elebute-Halle, now a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), distributed the materials during a twin programme commemorating the fifth coronation anniversary ceremony of the Alaaye of Oke Ayedun, Oba Olufemi Aribisala, where she hails from, also at the burial ceremony of late Mrs. Esther Olufunke Ojo, at Odo Ayedun neighbouring town in the same local government area and during the burial of Pa Michael Ojoko held at Igbara Odo Ekiti, as over 600 people in that community benefited.

She revealed that she gave out BAO rice, which she branded in the governor’s name, as a way to lend support to the governor and his wife’s humanitarian activities in the state. She also gave out kitchen utensils, back-to-school bowls and packs, and cash to those in need in the three communities.

She said the materials became necessary considering the hardship many women face in providing basic amenities for their children. She added that the gesture was to contribute to Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s numerous projects across the state so that people can breathe.

In her interaction with THISDAY, Elebute-Halle said she immediately thought of what could benefit the people of the two communities when she got the invitation letter to grace the occasion. She followed the stories of dehumanising and embarrassing situations in which some women found themselves after borrowing money to either pay their children’s school fees or meet some immediate family needs, such as feeding.

She recounted a particularly pathetic story about a woman who had taken a loan to pay her child’s school bills but defaulted on the loan.

“We learnt the loan agents came after her and inhumanely tied round her neck some empty tin cans, a replica of the scarlet letter ‘A’ hung on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne as a symbol of shame,” she stated. “The loan-defaulting woman was made to walk round the town with the tin cans dangling on her neck, thereby subjecting her to opprobrium.”

She added, “There was another very humiliating situation where a woman from this same neighbourhood had borrowed money and could not pay it back. Consequently, the creditors subjected her to very embarrassing treatments, which forced her to go with cap in hand to an ‘Okada’ man for money to settle the debt. Regrettably, the ‘Okada’ promised to lend her money on the condition she agreed to him having canal knowledge of her, a request which she granted him.

“They made out in the dark corner of a primary school premises! Sadly, the ‘Okada’ man deceitfully stuffed some cement papers into her hands and immediately zoomed off. The woman’s agony was heightened when she discovered she had been outfoxed.”

She explained that these situations prompted “me to embark on the recent empowerment of the two communities” in Ikole local government, noting that initially, “I thought of organising bigger things for them, but I was told that with what the people are going through now, N20,000 each could go a long way towards alleviating people’s sufferings.”

She explained, “I ran into another woman in the community while I was distributing the relief packages. Unfortunately, her name was not on the list of the beneficiaries. She passionately requested money. She burst into tears when I gave her N10,000, revealing to me that her child in the school had sent her a message the previous night asking her to send something, even if it was N500. If I had met that woman outside without her coming to tell me about her problem, I would have assumed all was well judging by her appearance.”

She noted that cases of struggling mothers, single parents and orphans need urgent attention. 

“So, whenever I am invited to such events, I always see it as an opportunity to give back to society,” she stated. “It was a delight to collaborate with one of my daughters-in-law from Ikole local government, who suggested some of these things that were immediate or pressing needs of the people in these communities.”

She maintained that as a humanitarian who loves to affect lives wherever she finds herself positively, she must make an impact. 

“I have many NGOs which I founded a few years ago, but I have decided to use one of them, Dominion Mothers Group, which has since 2018 been dedicated to helping single mothers, orphans, widows and orphanages. Schools have resumed, and it is common knowledge that women take care of children when getting some school materials for their children,” she revealed. “We have to help them and ensure children in schools get some materials that will aid their studies as well as provide succour for their parents.”

Elebute-Halle stressed that everything should not be left in the hands of the government or political appointees alone. Individuals who have the capacity to give back to society should not hesitate to extend their hands of love to the have-nots, as such an act will further help the government achieve its good agenda for the people.

“If the driving force behind one’s giving is if you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one, then the whole human race will say goodbye to hunger pangs and deprivations,” added Elebute-Halle. “I am also an engineer with a lot of challenges, but I have made up my mind that come what may, I will always live a life of impact by making people happy, particularly the downtrodden and the vulnerable.”