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We Will Not Welcome Selfish Agitators In Ondo State, Says Gov Akeredolu |The Source

By
Ayodele Oni
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Rotimi Akeredolu - Ondo Communal Clash

By Ayodele Oni

Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu has warned some self-styled agitators for break up of Nigeria to steer clear of the state in their own interest.

Governor Akeredolu spoke rhetorically on Monday while swearing in the new secretary to the state government, Mrs Oladuni Odu and other appointees recently picked by the governor.

Akeredolu in his speech stated that “I must not fail to comment on the current agitations by some people who express grievances arising from the challenges of nationhood.

“The noises generated by seeming inaction or passive indifference on the part of elected and appointed representatives of the Government at all levels appears to be responsible for the growing disaffection in the land.

“Why some have been measured in their reactions to these problems, others have been less diplomatic. It is not uncommon to find groups and individuals purporting to act or speak on behalf of the rest of us.

“While it is the right of citizens to discuss, agitate and even fight to right perceived wrongs, culminating in self-determination, this must be done within known and acceptable parameters.

“All concerned must be ad idem, that is, agree to pursue the same objectives to achieve a desirable or desired end. There must be a common platform through which the demands, from the most mundane to the sublime, must be presented.

“There must be a general consensus, articulated and presented after rigorous engagements on the level of intellection as the agendum for action. The reasons for the declaration of hostilities must not be fleeting fancies of disaffection engendered by perceived politics of exclusion for personal benefits.

“Self-determination must be a collective programme of action. I state, unequivocally, as the Governor of Ondo State, elected by the people to serve them and protect their interests, that our people have elected to stay in the Federal Republic of Nigeria as constituted at present.

“We recognise that there are reasons to demand that certain anomalies be put right. We will continue to encourage dialogue as an effective tool in resolving disputes. We will also not shy from joining others to insist on socio-economic justice.

“We will, however, not subscribe to banditry and recklessness in putting forth our demands.

Consequently, no part of the entire State, known and delineated as Ondo State, shall permit any gathering or agitation which may suggest, however remotely, that we are in support of unthinking rabble rousing.

“We will not be led to assured annihilation by anyone or a group of people, still smarting from the electoral defeats of recent times and presumed exclusion from the process of decision-making.”

The Governor also used the occasion to condemn the recent attack on Governor Ortom of Benue state describing it as cowardly.

“I must pause to condemn, in the strongest term possible, the most recent cowardly attack on the convoy of the Benue State Governor, Mr. Samuel Ortom. I call on the security agencies to unmask the agents of darkness bent on throwing this country into a state of anarchy.

“We note that the authorities have assured the people of Benue and Nigerians alike that the perpetrators will face justice. May we, therefore, admonish those saddled with the responsibility of unravelling the mystery to ensure that, as it has been in other incidents, the investigation being conducted is thorough and not open-ended.

“This will reassure Nigerians on the seriousness of our security agencies. This unfortunate incident underscores the importance of restructuring the security architecture in the country. We will not be tired of demanding that the right thing be done.”

Militants From Coastal Area Of Ondo Cry Out Over Non Inclusion In Amnesty Programme |The Source

By
Ayodele Oni
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Ex-Militants in Ondo State

By Ayodele Oni

A group of self proclaimed ex- militants from the coastal area of Ondo State, on Monday, protested over what they described as total neglect and abandonment by the Federal government.

According to members of the group, numbering about six thousand, both the Federal and Ondo State Governments have refused to honour their part of the  amnesty/disarmament agreement.

The ex-militants, who had in 2017 laid down their arms, lamented that it was painful to note that government has failed to include them in the amnesty programme.

They called on the National Security Adviser to the President to facilitate their integration into the amnesty programme like their other counterparts.

The ex- militants spoke in Akure, the state capital through their leaders, Job Omotuwa and Ogalo Ibori surrounded by other leaders.

They claimed in their statement that “we the youths and ex-militants of the mandate areas in Ondo State which comprises of Ilaje and Ese-Odo Local Government  have been abandoned and neglected by the government at various levels in its Presidential Amnesty Programme till date having been so disarmed for reintegration.

“lt is our earnest yearning and prayer that you use your good office, influence and position as a man of the youth to absorb us into the Presidential Amnesty Programme being the basis of the November, 2017 disarmament exercise carried out by the government.

“It is painful to note that till date, no step or nothing has been done to absorb, ameliorate, mitigate and cushion our suffering and such calls for your honest, drastic and prompt attention being the Honourable Security Adviser to the President.

“The need for your prompt and attention in enlisting us into the Presidential Amnesty Programme is crucial and cannot be over emphasized since the government has failed, reneged, refused and neglected to honour its part of the said amnesty/disarmament agreement or contract of November, 2017 till date.

“The  Special Adviser to Mr. President /Coordinator, Presidential Amnesty Committee and all other relevant stakeholders in the integration process have also failed, neglected and /or refused to enlist us as beneficiaries like others in the Amnesty Programme despite all efforts made to reach out to them as regards our suffering and abandonment since 2017 till date”

Former Super Eagles Player, Imenger, Is Dead |The Source

By
Akinwale Kasali
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Barnabas Imenger

By Akinwale Kasali

The nation’s football family has been thrown into mourning following the demise of former Super Eagles Player, Barnabas Imenger.

Imenger, before his demise, was the Manager of Nigeria Football Professional League Club Side, Lobi Stars Football Club of Makurdi, Benue State.

Breaking the news of the Ex-International’s death, Lobi Stars team’s media officer, Austin Tyowua, confirmed he died on Monday 22nd March, 2021.

“Yes, he is dead,” TYowua said, while confirming the ex-Eagles attacker’s death.

He said the ex-Eagles striker died in the early hours of Monday after a protracted illness.

“With heavy hearts but total submission to the will of God, the Board and Management of Lobi Stars Football Club regrets to announce the passing on to the glory of Mr. Barnabas Imienger who died in the early hours of 22nd March 2021 in Abuja after a protracted illness.

“He is survived by two immediate children, several siblings, and mother. Burial arrangement will be communicated as soon as the club and his family collectively come out with a position,” he added in a statement announcing Imenger’s death.

Imenger started his Football profession in Makurdi with HMB FC, and moved to BBL Hawks later to known as Lobi Bank FC and now Lobi Stars.

He went on to play for BCC Lions FC Gboko, El-kanemi Warriors FC Maiduguri. He was also a member of the Senior National Football Team, Super Eagles of Nigeria. He also played professional football in Saudi Arabia

OPINION: Burna Boy as Nigerian musicians’ gutters-to-Grammy Story |The Source

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The Source
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By Festus Adedayo

When he voiced his ambition to be a standup comedian, Jewish American, Samuel Levenson’s mother was aghast. For a boy who grew up in a large Jewish immigrant family in New York’s Brooklyn, Madam Levenson’s disdain for standup comedy as a profession was understandable.

“My son, you mean, you stand, you talk and people laugh?” the mother demanded incredulously, breaking her son’s queer ambition into cynical smithereens.

Levenson said this much in his book of jokes entitled, You don’t have to be in Who is Who to know what is what.

Levenson had been a teacher. He, however, had a very noticeable talent for cracking ribs, which was becoming appreciated by the family’s Brooklyn neighbourhood. To now seek to make this second-rate comedy – something associated with indolent dregs of society – a lifelong occupation, was absolutely demeaning to Madam Levenson.

Born on December 28, 1911, till his death on August 27, 1980, Levenson held the wave and rose to become one of America’s most authoritative humorists, writer, teacher, television host and journalist.

That conversation young Levenson had with his mother is similar to the conversations, borne out of conservatism and ethnic pride, traded in many Nigerian homes.

Last week, Nigeria’s name reverberated all over the world again, this time not for opaque-minded leadership, corruption, banditry, Boko Haram or Fulani herdsmen’s violence. In far away Los Angeles, at the 63rd annual Grammy awards, Burna Boy, real name Damini Ogulu, won the Best Global Music Album category with his Twice as Tall traack, while Wizkid won the Best Video for his song with Beyonce.

Certifying this as the path to tread by Nigeria, World Trade Organization DG, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, commended the awardees for their music, stating that “they were an example of services we can export. We are exporting so much of our creative arts abroad and this seems to be encourag(ing).”

Buma Boy
Buma Boy

Nigerian streets are littered with people who, if they had followed the path of their passions, endowments and natural gifts/talents, they could have been greater assets to themselves and mankind. Predominant in the immediate period when western education began to open doors according to professions, certain acclaims, privileges and social status were ascribed to some professions ahead of others. It was thus more socially befitting to be a lawyer, judge, medical doctor, than to be a teacher, for instance.

Down the ladder, same level of social ostracism abounded and still abounds.

In societies which predicated statuses on hard work, some professions, occupations and preoccupations were literally anathema.

In the Yoruba pre-colonial, colonial and immediate post-colonial society, for instance, you were worse than a leper if you chose music or performing arts as a profession. Many of those musicians who later rode to the crest of acclaim, wealth and fame fought titanic battles with society, their parents and families before they gained any modicum of respect and regards.

One of such was Haruna Bello Ishola, popularly known as Baba Gani Agba. Born in 1919, he became very consequential in his musical career. As one of the foremost, if not the foremost singer of the Yoruba music genre of Apala, he was awarded the national award of Member of the Order of the Niger (MON). His renown in western region social circuit was such that he carved a reputation for himself as the foremost in-demand entertainer at parties by the nouveau riche Yoruba elite of the time.

Long before his first album was produced in 1948, which he entitled Late Oba Adeboye, (Orimolusi Of Ijebu Igbo) and which was released under the label of His Masters Voice (HMV), Ishola faced the raw odium of a Yoruba society which perceived musicians as alagbe (beggars) and lazy drones. In one of his songs when fame, wealth and recognition had come in a spurious surge, Ishola rendered the battle he fought with society in one of his songs thus: “When we started long ago, colleague musicians who didn’t know this job would be a money-spinner quit and fell by the wayside…That was when singers, drummers were called lazy, indolent people…Many ran away.” It went thus in Yoruba: Nigba ti a bere lojo ojosi// Awon ti o mo pe ise ola ni ninu wa, nse ni won yeri// Igba yen ni won np’olorin l’ole, won np’onilu lole//To m’elomi sa pata.

That same musician was to later have one of the tracks in what is regarded as his titular album, named Oroki Social Club on Decca Records. The track was an ode to popular and prestigious Osogbo, present Osun State-based club members, who gathered in a nightclub where Ishola performed concerts and entertained sold-out audiences.

Oroki Social Club became the most outstanding album of Ishola’s singing career, selling over five million copies, even in his lifetime. He later established his own record label called Phonodisk, after failed label partnership with IK Dairo and later with a colossus music industry investor, Nurudeen Omotayo Alowonle, with whom he established the Express Record Dealers Association in 1964. That venture later became a celebrated court case on intellectual property right.

Before Ishola’s death in 1983, he was one of the first set of musicians to tour prominent places in the world, travelling to Benin Republic, United Kingdom, France, West Germany and Italy.

Ask many of those musicians, standup comedians who later rose to fame and acclaim, and they will tell you the tortuous road of societal disdain and rejection they journeyed to the top.

It was inconceivable to their societies that, in a world where people strove to become doctors, lawyers, engineers and pharmacists, a right-thinking person could embark on awada (comedy), footaballing, athletics, for a living or entertaining crowds and wait for dole-outs before they could get their daily bread. Many of those jokes that made standup comedians reap mega-bucks today were ones that provoked mirthless guffaws over palmwine. Such artists never rose beyond cracking the ribs of their friends at beer parlours. These A-list artists were once perceived as dregs of society. Women fled from them for fear of being recipients of the odium of society and those who associated with them took huge slices of such disregard. Their parents were not proud of them and dithered from publicly identifying with them.

Particularly in southern Nigeria, where a life of dependency on dole-outs was an anathema, anyone associated with entertainment and arts was seldom respected. In fact, they believed such life was a precursor to becoming a thief.

In an interview in December last year, centenarian Mrs. Morenike Owomoyela, mother of Kennery music boss, Oladipupo Owomoyela, Orlando Owoh, said she was furious when her son abandoned school for the dancehall. She said: “Initially, I was very furious. I asked him why he would take such a decision because I could not understand why he would abandon school and be singing about.  But later, people came to appeal to me to let him pursue his dreams, that he could also make it in life through music. After much thought, I stopped discouraging and I allowed him.”

Yet, music constitutes the fabric of the African’s way of life. As I wrote in my book, Ayinla Omowura: Life and Times of an Apala Legend (page 19): “Music forms a major aspect of the typical life of an African. Indeed, it cannot be divorced from the core constitution of the fabric of the African. From wake-up at dawn to retiring to his bed at dusk, the African interfaces with music in virtually all segments of his existence. The interface is so sweeping that it would be difficult to describe the African life without amply stating the minutest details of how he is shaped by a life of music… music is actually central to the three phases of his existence, which are joy, sadness and relaxation.

At those crucial moments, music acts as a consul, a companion, with which he is able to explain or live through those critical moments of his existence.”

Today, however, perceptions are changing and the Nigerian society is moving at a supersonic speed with the rest of the world. All around the globe, entertainers are given kudos for their works as entrepreneurs who performed their civically-minded, problem-solving roles in society, as well as acting as agents for social change. Artists, for instance, play huge roles in community change, development and placemaking. They earn multiple of millions of dollars for their acts and have their fames reverberating all over the world. It is same for artists in Nigeria.

Take for example one of the most influential artistes in Africa, 28-year old Nigerian-American singer, songwriter and record producer, David Adedeji Adeleke, who is better known as Davido. Though son of billionaire Deji Adeleke, at such young age, Davido duds the wealth and fame of his father, personally making mega fame, acclaim and wealth from creative arts. He is estimated to have a net worth of $16 million, coasting home as the richest musician in Nigeria.

He has garnered wealth from music and endorsement projects, chief among which is the $78,296 (N30 million) MTN endorsement deal, Guinness Nigeria, and Infinix mobile.

He was said to have bought a Bentley for his father a couple of years ago.

Now, the province of creative art is being rudely barged into by children brought up with silver spoons.

First daughter of billionaire Femi Otedola, Olawunmi Christy, better known as Tolani,  born on April 21, 1986, has also joined the league by becoming one of  Nigeria’s singers and songwriters. In tow is Folarin, stage name Falz, another popular Nigerian rapper, singer, online comedian and actor and lawyer-son of activist, Femi Falana.

This is a wakeup call on those parents who criminalize and demonize the arts, whose children must be doctors, lawyers, engineers or nothing else. They should painstakingly identify their wards’ endowments, talents and prod them up with proper education.

On a lighter note, why should it be that, when law, engineering, medicine, pharmacy etc. were the vogue of professions, the elite and nouveau riche children were quick to be found in that theatre and now that creative arts has taken over, same set of people must be the controllers!

Adedayo, PhD,  is a weekly contributor to Sunday Tribune

Opinion: COVID-19: How to Prevent “Mass Suicide” in the South-east this Easter |The Source

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The Source
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Ingram Osigwe

By Ingram Osigwe

South Easterners are synonymous with the word “diaspora”. Yes, Igbos are scattered round the globe. In fact, some commentators insist the Igbo population outside Igboland far outnumbers those back home in the Southeast.

But the soul- stirring song the Biblical Israelites rendered when the pangs of exile and craving for their homeland became overwhelming, i.e:  “May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy”, seems to be silently hummed daily in the hearts of every diaspora Igbo.

The Igbo never forgets home hence the massive migration home, albeit temporarily, during festive periods,  namely new year, Easter and Christmas.

However, in the wake of the deadly Coronavirus pandemic, such homeward movement can be likened to mass suicide.

Suicide? One may ask. Yes, suicide. A good number of Nigerians, including Ndigbo, still regarded  the COVID-19 pandemic as a fairy tale the western world and their Asian ( China) “collaborators” invented to wind hook the third world, especially Africa, in order to rip them off.

This pervasive mindset is despite millions of COVID-19 deaths Asian and western countries have recorded so far.

COVID-19 denial and uncontrolled influx of diaspora Igbo into Ala Igbo last December for Christmas and new year festivities clearly left on its trail fatalities.

The spike in COVID-19 deaths in the South east and of persons of Southeast origin last year and early this year, especially between late January 2021 and early February 2021, were obviously traceable to super spreaders who returned home to celebrate with their families and loved ones.

One lethal fact about COVID-19 super spreaders is that they are asymptomatic.Neither you nor them are aware they have the virus.They look healthy, lively yet carry the deadly virus in their systems.

As you dine, wine, hug and do back slap greetings with them, you are unknowingly embracing death. Super spreaders are “ogbunigwe” or mass killers!

Easter celebrations will soon be here and as expected some of our people from across the world will gleefully travel down to Alaigbo (Igboland) to spend time with their kiths and kins and also attend a plethora of weddings and burials lined up this period.

With the incessant hunger in the land, many are sure to throng such social gatherings. They, especially vulnerable aged ones, are at great risk. This is because among the would be travellers who will grace the occasions could be super spreaders.

My appeal therefore, is that we should all be COVID-19 protocols compliant as we hit home.

The loved ones we left at home and who we will be travelling home to mingle with this Easter include aged people, including our aged parents whose immune systems have sagged.

These category of people are the most vulnerable to the virus. So, certainly it won’t be a bad idea if we travel with immune boosting supplements for them. These supplements will help ward off the virus for our aged ones in the event that they come in contact with super spreaders.

While wishing everyone trouble- free Easter celebrations, I implore us all to always adhere, strictly, to the COVID-19 preventive protocols.

Remember Coronavirus is real. It kills!

Osigwe, an advertising and Market Communication practitioner, is the MD/CEO of Fullpage Communications Ltd, Lagos.

Again, Onitsha NBA Chairman Is Murdered |The Source

By
Adesina Soyooye
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Francis Onwunachi

By Adesina Soyooye

The first time it happened in Anambra State was in 2002. The Chairman of the Onitsha Branch of the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, Mr Barnabas Igwe and his wife, Amaka, were driving home to their residence in Onitsha. They never made it home. Gunmen murdered both of them in the streets of Onitsha. Their murder was shrouded in controversy, and caused an uproar.

His colleagues in the NBA hit the roof, and quickly pointed accusing fingers at the Governor of the State.

The Governor, then, was Mr Chinwoke Mbadinuju, a Governor who was generally unpopular with the people.

The allegation was that Igwe and his wife were killed because, as the Chairman of the powerful Onitsha branch of the NBA,  he was very critical of Governor Mbadinuju’s Government. His criticisms carried weight.

In 2012, Mbadinuju who was, then, in Houston was charged to court for the murders of Igwe and his wife.

Fast forward to March 2021. Another  Chairman of the Onitsha Branch of the NBA, has been murdered. The lawyer, Francis Onwunachi was murdered on March 19, 2021.

Onwunachi on March 12, was on his way to his village, Omor Community, in the Ayamelum LGA. He was the President General of the Town Union.

He never made it home. He was kidnapped along the road, the Ezu River Anaku road.

The allegation is that he was kidnapped, allegedly, by rogue Fulani herdsmen.

It is not known if the kidnappers ever made any contact with anybody to ask for ransom. Or perhaps, if the ransom demanded was not paid. If it was a question of ransom, this magazine was told, it would have been paid. He held three important positions – Chairman NBA, Onitsha, Vice President, University of  Nigeria Alumni Association, Onitsha Branch, the President-General of his Community’s Association. Yet he was killed.

The questions being asked around are: Does his murder have anything to do with any of the offices he held? What is it in the Chairmanship of the Onitsha Branch of the NBA that for the second time, its Chairman is murdered?

Anambra State used to be one of the safest States in the South-east. No longer. In the past two months the number of murders in the state, including those of security agents is alarming. It’s so bad that a couple of beheadings have been carried out in broad day light. Policemen are being ambushed and killed, and so are Prison Warders. Police stations and Divisions are being attacked and burnt down. So are private residences and business premises. The question, again is, if all these atrocities are being carried out by rogue Fulani herdsmen or sons of the South-east zone?

In the instant case of the murder of Barr. Onwunachi, the NBA, Anambra, is very angry and shocked. The Association of  the Chairmen and Secretaries of all the NBA Branches in the State, in a protest statement, expressed shock and urged Security Agencies in the State to buckle up. They expressed worry at what the state has been reduced to, emphasising that the level of insecurity is unparalleled and unacceptable.

The Branch had earlier declared a three-day strike action.

Investigations by the Police are on to unravel the kidnap and murder of Onwunachi.

Ortom: PDP Governors Spit Fire, Say Enough Is Enough ; FG, NGF, PGF Yet To React |The Source

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The Source
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PDP Governors

The PDP Governors’ Forum has warned that the assassination attempt on the Governor of Benue State,   Samuel Ortom, is an attack on all of them. The Forum also said that any attack on any Nigerian is an attack on everybody.

Governor Ortom narrowly escaped death on Saturday when those he identified as members of Miyeti Allah, swooped on him while he was in his farm, along the Makurdi- Gboko road, and rained bullets on him and his aides. He miraculously escaped by, in his own words, running a distance of over 1.5km.

In a strongly worded statement, personally, signed by the Chairman of the Forum, Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, the Forum expressed shock, and urged  Security agents to quickly unravel those behind the attempt on Ortom’s life, for prosecution.

The statement reads:

“The PDP-Governors’ Forum has received with shock the assassination attempt on the Governor of Benue State, H.E. Dr Samuel Ortom.

“2. We wish therefore to warn that any attempt to harm any Nigerian will be viewed by the Forum as an attempt on all of us.

“3. We believe strongly that any dispute or perceived dispute should be and must be resolved amicably without resort to violence. Nigeria is not  a  Babana Republic, even though certain retrogressive elements and centrifugal forces are trying to consign Nigeria into a failed state.

“4. It remains the primary responsibility of government, especially the Federal government, who have monopoly of the coercive forces of state, to secure the lives and livelihoods of our people, however low or high. Every Nigerian deserves equal protection of the laws. Every citizen is entitled to freedom of speech and free exercise of all rights guaranteed in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, subject only to law.

“5  Nigeria is still a democracy and a nation of laws and not men.

Nobody, or group however highly placed should take the laws into their  hands, even though some highly placed Federal government ministers seem to have surrendered to the nefarious activities of miscreants and mischief makers, bent on destabilising the nation. Self help is an invitation to anarchy and must be nipped in the bud.

“6. The PDP GOVERNORS are solidly united and are behind His Excellency, Governor Dr Samuel Ortom and will do the utmost to defend the rights and prerogatives of the Benue people who elected him.

“7. We expect the security agencies and other authorities of state to investigate this matter swiftly and thoroughly and bring the perpetrators to justice.

“8 .Enough is clearly enough.”

At the time of posting this, neither the Federal Government, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to which all the Governors belong, irrespective of Party affiliation, nor the Progressive Governors’ Forum, PGF, a forum for APC  Governors has reacted.

Ekiti Assembly Bye-Election Massacre: PDP Alleges Gov Fayemi Protecting Killer- Thugs |The Source

By
Ayodele Oni
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By Ayodele Oni

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State has accused the State Governor,  Dr Kayode Fayemi, of harbouring, in the Government House,  killer- thugs who perpetrated the killing of three people during a House of Assembly bye-election in Ekiti East Local Government on Saturday.

This is coming just as Governor Fayemi visited Omuo community to symphartize with relations of those shot dead.

The Governor, during the visit, held a closed door meeting with the Senator representing Ekiti north, Biodun Olujinmi, as well as meeting with the traditional ruler of the community.

In a statement on Sunday by its State Publicity Secretary,  Raphael Adeyanju, the party insisted that Governor Fayemi cannot claim that the killer thugs that overran Omuo Ekiti are not known to him.

According to PDP, rather than going to Omuo Ekiti to shed crocodile tears as usual,  Governor Fayemi should repent and stop acting like a “blood-sucking-demon” who takes delight in shedding the blood of his own people.

“The people of Omuo Ekiti know those who came to the town to shoot at innocent people, Governor Fayemi also knows them.

“The same killer thugs invaded GNN Hotel in Ado Ekiti on October 24, 2020 and CCTV footages, showing their faces were provided to the police, but they did nothing.

“Fayemi also saw the footages, but he gave the thugs protection.

“Therefore,  there is nothing for the police to investigate.  Rather,  Governor Fayemi should just be humane for once and release those his killer thugs to the police for prosecution.”

“It is on record that between October 16, 2010 and October 16, 2014 that Fayemi was governor of Ekiti State then, nine people were killed by government thugs.

“Now,  two years after,  Ekiti is witnessing the same state sponsored killings and attack just as it was during his first tenure.

“During the 2017 local government elections that APC contested against itself,  a man was killed in Ikere Ekiti while one Prince Sunday Ogunleye was killed in Ado Ekiti by government thugs during the EndSARS protest.

“But like all the afflictions of the Israelites,  this regime of barbaric killings in Ekiti State too shall pass.”

Aftermath Of Attack: IGP Strengthens Security Around Ortom |The Source

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The Source
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The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Mohammed  Adamu, has ordered full-scale investigations into the circumstances surrounding the assassination attempt on  the  Governor of Benue State, Samuel  Ortom, at his farm in the outskirts of Makurdi. The attack took place on Saturday, 20th March, 2021.

The IGP who condemned the incident, has equally directed the Commissioner of Police (CP), Benue State Command to take adequate measures towards strengthening and improving security in the State, particularly around the Governor.

Accoding to a statement signed by Force Spokesperson, CP Frank Mba,  Adamu also specifically directed the CP to carry out painstaking investigations into the incident and ensure the arrest and prosecution of persons indicted in the course of the investigations.

Meanwhile, in order to ensure a speedy, thorough and conclusive investigation into the matter, the IGP has ordered the immediate deployment of a team of specialized investigators from the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID), Abuja to Benue State to provide additional investigative support to the Benue State Police Command.

The Order To Kill Me Came From Yola – Gov. Ortom |The Source

By
Akinwale Kasali
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By Akinwale Kasali

His retinue of Security Aides  was not enough to scare his killers. The Security sides were not enough to protect him either. Apparently, those mandated to kill Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, knew what they could be up against. They were well prepared. Perhaps, better equipped, with more superior weapons. Otherwise, how could all those who almost murdered Ortom in his farm, in broad day light all escape? None of them was killed. None was arrested. They must have been, at once,  both professionals and suicidal.

When they struck, it was with precision. They were 15 in number, perhaps less than  the number of Security personnel  attached to Ortom. Yet, for  Governor Ortom and his Security aides, it was like the Biblical “To your tents, O Israel!”

Apparently, everybody ran away. The Governor, over 60 years old, said he ran for over 1.5km to save his life. As he ran, the Security agents ran with him. The questions then: Who stayed behind to count the number of the murderous herdsmen? Who was composed enough to do that. Were there exchanges of gunfire? The Governor hinted that there was. He said his security aides repelled them.

Since the horrifying incident, reactions have been like claps of thunder. The Middle  Belt Forum described it as a declaration of war against the Middle Belt. Benue Youths threatened to resort to self-help. The PDP, Ortoms party, condemned it in very strong words. Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, warned the Federal Government that if Ortom is killed, that would mark the beginning of the end of Nigeria. And, the Inspector General of Police has ordered a diligent investigation into the incident.

But a shaken but nonplussed Governor Ortom says he knows from where his would-have-been killers came from. He also says he knows where the order to kill him came from. He says it came from Yola, Adamawa State after a meeting of the Miyetti Allah.

Hereunder, he tells the chilling account of his  narrow escape.

Governor Ortom:

“You know today is Saturday and it’s normal as a farmer, I usually go to my farm on Saturdays. So I went to my farm along Gboko road,  and while trekking out of the farm on our way back, we started hearing some gunshots and we discovered people who were dressed in black and from experience, we now realized that these are Fulani militia.

“I do not want to take things for granted because a few days ago the media were awash with a statement from Miyetti Allah who met in Yola, the same place they met in 2016 where they decided that they will take Nigeria and that every other person is a slave, That was when they started infiltrating the entire country.

“They came out with a statement singling me out as the only person who is creating problems for the entire Fulani race. And behind the scenes, I also heard that in the meeting, I was targeted for elimination this was the information I got. That they will go after me either in my home, farm, or wherever they get me.

“And this not the first time, I heard intelligence report before that these people said that they were going to kill my security aides and then capture me alive and gradually kill me.

Like I always say, my life is in the hands of God not in any Fulani man or anybody whatsoever. And I still remain firm, I will fight for the truth, equity and fairness till when God permits I that will not be here again, then I will go.

“I appreciate the security personnel attached to me they were able to repel them and they could not have access to me. I thank God for my fitness to have run for more than one and a half kilometers without stopping it means that God has given me strength and I am grateful to God.

“Let me quote from Martin Luther King Jr who said, ‘if peace means keeping my mouth shut in the midst of injustice and evil, I don’t want peace. If peace means willingness to be exploited economically, dominated politically, humiliated and segregated, I don’t want peace.’ I stand with him.”

“I am not going to subject myself to intimidation by anyone whatsoever. I don’t have problems with any Fulani man or the Fulani race, but I have a problem with Fulani bandits who have vowed to take over Nigeria as their ancestral home and I say no, not when I am here as governor leading my state.

“I am not concerned about other states, any state that wants to give their land and themselves to be slaves to Fulani men I have no problem with them but in my state, I have consulted with my people and what I am doing is in line with the wishes of my people, and on that, I stand. I have not infringed on anybody’s right.

“My lawyer is here. He is going to make a petition against the leadership of Miyetti Allah because they came out to target me and behind the scene, they are planning to eliminate me in my own land. If I can’t go to the farm as governor with entire security around me then who else can go to the farm. You can imagine the pains that we have here in Benue State.

“Thank God for Mr. President who responded to my letter directing that anymore illegally in possession of AK 47 should be shot at sight. I am yet to see that, let me see it happening in Benue State. I have reported this to the security agencies and I hope that this will be done so that the land will be safe for our people to go to the farm and do their work and survive and live a good life.

“Here in Benue State, we are not against the Fulani, nor Hausa, Igbo or any tribe even white people, we are ready to provide land for ranching, that is what the law says. I don’t know why, these Fulani men are coming from Niger, Mali, Chad and Senegal, and other parts of the world to Nigeria. They have destroyed Mali completely, nothing is happening there, they have destroyed Libya, they have destroyed several other countries with their aggression and they think they can come here and destroy Nigeria. I don’t know what they mean.

“We are not against Fulani people who legitimately want to do their business here including cattle rearing but you must ranch, that is the law and we are in a democratic era and democracy is anchored on the rule of law.

“I don’t know why people will come from somewhere and think that they will not obey the laws of the land. If everybody decides to be lawless, if all of us decide to take guns and go after people or our perceived enemies, there will be lawlessness, there will be anarchy and who knows what will happen.

“I want to call on Mr. President, I want to call on the security agencies to fish these people out. They are in the forest between Makurdi and Abinsi. They are living there and coming out to commit atrocities and evil, Killing our people, maim them, raping women, and destroying our farmlands.

“And anytime our Livestock Guards and security agencies go after them, they run back into the forest across the river.

This is not fair, I am going to make a petition against the leadership of Miyetti Allah because I hold them responsible.

“I have not committed any crime, I have not done any evil against anybody. Throughout my more than 40 years of being in politics, I have not injured anyone with a pin talk more of the knife. I have not done it because that is not the way to go.

“In my pursuit for power, I have always known that power belongs to God and He giveth it to whomsoever He wills.

“So I don’t know why until today I have been calling for the arrest of these people since 2017 and they are going about their normal businesses in Abuja, in Yola, Kano, and everywhere without security personnel inviting them for questioning.

“And my pain is that these people are protected by our security personnel who are paid with our taxpayers’ money. These are security men that are inadequate because of the crisis created by Miyetti Allah and the police are still protecting them.

“Why, are we second-class citizens? I am not a second-class citizen to anyone in this country. I pay my tax just like any other person and I am law-abiding and I hope that the security agencies will question these people on why they should single me out in their Yola meeting and behind the scene giving orders for me to be eliminated. I have seen the result today. If not for the security personnel that was with me it would have been a story.

“That is it, but I am going to make a petition to the President and security agencies for the leadership of Miyetti Allah to be arrested. What they are doing is not correct and government must not fold its hands. I believe in the unity of this county, I am not against anyone and I am not fighting anyone.

“I am fighting for the rights of the people that elected me. I am fighting for justice, equity and fairness. And I cannot compromise that. The law prohibiting open grazing in Benue state can never be reviewed, I have consulted with my people and they insisted that it should never be reviewed and on that we stand. Rather if we are reviewing it, we are going to put in place more stringent conditions for instance the payment of fines on heads of cattle that are arrested.

“Come to think of it, I brought a solution to the problem that has bedeviled this country as far as the herdsmen crisis is concerned. Since 2016 I have been propagating ranching as the global best practice and that is where we are today.

“Pessimists and skeptics who never accepted it are today accepting it. People who came out openly to attacked me are today laying the same bill in their Houses of Assembly to have Ranches all over the place because that is the only solution.

“So how have I become a problem? By finding a solution to a problem that is existing and the government is not able to come out to make pronouncements or legislate to ensure that we all live in peace?/How am I a problem? Let them come and tell the whole world, let them tell me.

“I have always said that look if you disagree with me on this issue, tell me the option that is superior to the one I brought on the table. Up till today, nobody has said anything. I challenge all Nigerians and all Fulani men who are against me to come out and tell me if there is another solution to ensure peace for farmers and herdsmen as well as the people.

“Tell me so that if it is superior to providing ranches for cattle rearing then we can follow you. But if I clear to me that the issue of herdsmen in Nigeria, especially the Fulani men is just camouflage, the agenda is to take over the land and they have said. I am quoting them, it is in the media.

“They have said Nigeria is the only country that belongs to them, that they will take over and everybody will be their slave. I will not be a slave to any Fulani man. The Benue people will not be slaves. And we are not going to catch anyone to be our slaves. It should be live and let’s live. Democracy is freedom for all. Everybody should be free to express themselves and to associate with everybody and do their business.

“Recall that Governor Fayemi came out clearly and said this government has failed. Providing security is nil. Everybody is running all over the place; traditional rulers, governors politicians, and all. If I am not safe in my own state, who else is safe in Benue state. That is the question I am asking and that is the most painful aspect of it.

“So it is very serious. I appreciate President Buhari for coming out to give the shoot at sight order on people illegally carrying AK47. I appreciate him also for coming out to say that the borderlands in Nigeria should be strengthened which is the second point I raised in my letter to him.

“There are other 10 points that are still pending but we need to address them too because if we want this country to be together and ensure peace for all, all those issues must be addressed too. All issues of kidnappings were brought here by Fulani men. Nobody should shy away and say it is bandits without calling their names.

“Yes we have Tiv people who are criminals, Gana was a criminal, we never shied away from saying it. There are still criminal elements within the state that are Tiv people. There are Idoma criminal elements. We know that, so we cannot shy away from them.

“We shouldn’t also shy away from talking about Fulani bandits who are terrorizing everybody in the forests. They are even inviting Boko Haram to join them to create problems here for us. They have not hidden it. They have come out to say that yes, our people should settle them.

“We are begging the federal government that if they brought them (Fulani militia) into the country as they are claiming, they should settle them to go back to where they came from so that we can have our peace. Even if it means taxing all of us to settle them to go away so that we can go to the farm we will do that. If I cannot go to the farm, who else can go to the farm in Benue state?”

For, the records, this is the third time an attempt will be made on Governor Ortom’s life.

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