The attention of Ane Igala Restoration (AIR) has been drawn to the news publication of channels Television on the 6th April, 2024 whereat during the 8.00 pm news, it was aired that the attack on the AGOJEJU ODO community in Omala Local Government Area of Kogi State that took place on the 1st April, 2024 that left scores gruesomely murdered and properties destroyed was as a result of communal crisis or clash between two neighbouring villages.
We wish to put the record straight that the above position is absolutely far from the truth and that the said publication was based on some unfounded reportage. MAy we use this opportunity to inform the whole world and channels Television in particular that the said attack was a climax of a gradual but well orchestrated chains of attack by the Fulani herders who have been on the rampage in Omala Local Government Area of Kogi state since November, 2023, a fall out of their expulsion from the Agatu section of Apa Local Government Area of Benue State, a bordering Local Government with Omala.
We wish to further state that the said attack against our people did not come without warning as there have been series of intermittent attacks by the same herders in the months of January, February and March in different locations within the Local Government Area and that all of such were brought to the knowledge of the state government and calls were made for reinforcement of security but that all such calls were treated with levity thus giving the attackers the opportunity to embark on a more daring and gruesome scale.
We regret the position of the state government which rather than waking up to its responsibility of protecting the lives and properties of the citizens, failed completely in this respect only to turn around to blame the people for their misfortune using a non existing communal crisis as an excuse, while showing no remorse tor the lives that were gruesomely taken but expressing readiness to compensate families for properties destroyed.
We wish to state that this is hugely unbecoming of a government whose primary duty it is to protect lives of its citizens against all odds.
We therefore call on Channels Television to air a publication putting the facts straight.
We also condemn the attack in the strongest of terms and bemoan the needless and unwarranted lost of innocent, peaceful and war warried lives and their properties.
We call on the Federal Government of Nigeria to rise to the occasion by taking some more concrete steps to protect the lives of the people on the Bagana_Omala East_Western flank of Kogi state, we call for the sitting of a military post in that axis and more measures to ensure the protective presence of the government.
May we also call on Kogi state government to rise to its responsibility by often responding in good times to distress call and taking measures to stem security breaches in the bud.
Our heart goes out to the families of the deceased and all who lost limps and properties in the course of the carnage.
Thank you.
Salifu Oguche Usman, Esq (LL.M)
Deputy National Secretary, AIR