Ane Igala Restoration (AIR) has expressed deep sadness and concern over the recent boat mishap in Ibaji, which claimed the lives of 26 Igala patriots, including farmers, fishermen, and businessmen and women.
A statement by Apostle Dr. Odekina Ocholi E., National President of AIR, and Salifu Oguche Usman, Esq., (LL.M), National Secretary, expressed a heartfelt condolences and concerns over the tragic incident.
AIR commiserates with the Kogi state government, the Atta Igala, HRM, Dr Alaji Mathew Opaluwa Oguche Akpa II, Onu_Uje of Ibaji, HRH Chief John Egwemi, Ibaji Local Government Area Council, the Igala Nation, the Ibaji people, and the immediate families of the victims of the mishap over this tragedy of monumental proportion.
The organization regrets the unfortunate occurrence which has brought the lives of those very illustrious and patriotic Igala statesmen and women to an abrupt end and untold hardships to their respective families whose breadwinners and sources of livelihood have been brought to ruin. AIR prays to the Almighty God for the repose of the souls of the departed as well as fortitude for the family to bear the irreparable loss.
AIR wishes to use this medium to call on the Kogi state government, the Ibaji Local Government Area Council, international organizations, and well-meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of the Ibaji people as the locals have suffered unbearable hardship, neglect, and degradation over decades. These ugly trends have been the lot of the Ibaji people over the years, and the discovery of crude oil and its subsequent mining with the resultant accrual of revenues to the Kogi state government and Ibaji Local Government Area Council has not in any way changed the unfortunate narrative.
AIR therefore calls on the Kogi state government to rise to the occasion in ensuring that basic means of transportation, such as access roads, well-organized, and structured water transport systems, as well as other infrastructure, are brought to the people of Ibaji to avert the reoccurrence of such mishaps in the future.