There was an uproar over Mika Niikko's campaign offerings: Food intended for the poor was distributed at the election ceremony – This is how the campaign manager explains

The organization's executive director, Niiko's campaign manager, denies the allegations. He considers the claims to be a “political game”. election meeting-naumlin-kampanjapaumlaumlllikkouml-selitt-b42a950.jpg” alt=”Mika Niikko's campaign offerings caused an uproar: Food intended for everyone was distributed at the election meeting – Näin campaign manageräällikkö explainedää” />

Member of Parliament and parliamentary election candidate Mika Niiko's (ps) campaign offers caused an uproar over the weekend. Petteri PaalasmaaYesterday at 23:04

MP and parliamentary election candidate Mika Niikon(ps) during the election campaign, food intended for the underprivileged was served, Joosua, a volunteer worker of the Missio youth organization, claims to Iltalehte.

According to the worker, Niiko's election office served, for example, peppers, pizza slices, cookies, coffee and pastries from the organization's warehouse.< /p>

The topic was previously reported by Ilta-Sanomat. The volunteer says that he witnessed how the executive director of the Joosua Missio organization and Niiko's campaign manager Timo Valtonenordered to hide the food from the election office when the reporter called the election office.

The employee also claims that Valtonen has been urging the organization's employees for weeks to reserve food for Niikko's election events.

– I have nothing against Niikko, but this situation is sad. Here we behave wrongly in such a way that we are dishonest. The most upsetting thing is that food is taken from the poor, says the volunteer worker.

– All employees are very mature. The food is intended for the disadvantaged, not for election events.

According to an anonymous employee who commented to Iltalehti, Niikko knew about the origin of the food. In his opinion, the responsibility for the catering has fallen on Valtonen's neck in public, even though Niikko knew the situation. The employee claims that Niikko has previously taken food from the organization's warehouse for himself as well.

The employee says that, contrary to what Valtonen has made it clear in public, Joosua Missio has to ration food.

– There is never any leftover food. Everything has always gone, the employee says.

Iltalehti does not say the volunteer's name due to the sensitivity of the topic.

“You're pulling the plug”

< p class="paragraph">The executive director of the Joosua Missio organization and Niiko's campaign manager Timo Valtonen says that the claims made in public are not true.

How do you comment on the claims that food supplies from Joosua Mission have been served at Mika Niiko's election events?

– No such thing has ever happened. Here is our distribution manager. Wait, I'll ask him on this phone. (…) There are two employees here. Has Timo Valtonen said that we will save food for Mika Niiko's election campaign?

– No, says a female voice on the other end of the phone.

– It really isn't, says another female voice.

Valtonen continues:

– All employees are on the same page. You're pulling the plug now. There has been a lie, and you can't build news on a lie. For example, you can make a complaint (to the Public Speech Council) and you will have to go to court for that matter. You shouldn't lie about anything in the newspapers. So I'm filing a defamation charge on top of that.

Did you distribute bread in connection with the election campaign?

– Yesterday I shared with my friends the bread that could not be kept and that would have gone to the landfill, on that corner near Mika's election office. It doesn't mean that Mika Niikko ordered them to be distributed or even knew about it.

– He (Niikko) was amazed at what bread was distributed here. They had to be shared because otherwise they would end up in the landfill.

– I've been doing this division for 29 years and there's never been such a rattle from anything. I can show you the place where that trailer was here on the side of the election office. It wasn't even in front of the office.

Was there also peppers, pizza slices and other items from Joosua Mission's warehouses to be distributed at Niiko's election ceremony?

– I don't know what the housewives have shared about that. The staff have had peppers, pieces of pizza and the like as snacks. After all, you have to give them something that is left over from some division so that they can eat.

We heard that when the reporter called, you told them to quickly hide the food from the election office. Is that true?

– I said after that, “now you take all the food away from here, we're going to distort things here”.

– This is all election propaganda. (…) This is a political game.

Niikko comments on Facebook

Iltalehti contacted Niikko, who urged the editor to look at his comments on the matter on Facebook.

Niikko writes On his Facebook page, that claims have been made about his election campaign that need to be corrected. Niikko has included the report written by Timo Valtonen on Facebook.

– However, there has also been an unfortunate mistake in the operation, for which I apologize publicly. As a candidate, I take full responsibility for the activities of my campaign team, Niikkko writes.

In error, Niikko refers to the fact that the election office has offered frozen pies intended for aid workers to all who wish. Valtonen writes about it on his Facebook page.

– It was about the pies thawed on Friday and left over from the distribution, which could not be refrozen and should have been discarded. However, the cafe manager did not act like this but instead offered waste to eat, Valtonen writes on Facebook.