Ombatse killings: Group accuses Nasarawa Senator of false testimony

 Kwararrafa Development Association accused Senator Solomon Ewuga of falsehood.

The President of the Nasarawa State chapter of Kwararrafa Development Association, Salihu Alkali, has asked the Senator representing Nasarawa North, Solomon Ewuga (APC) to desist from associating the Senate President, David Mark, with Mr. Ewuga’s visit to Alakyo Village where the outlawed Ombatse militia group killed over 65 security operatives.

Speaking with journalists in Lafia, Mr. Alkali said that the testimony of Mr. Ewuga at the Justice Fola Gbadeyan commission of inquiry into the Ombatse killings, in which the Senator said that he had the approval of Mr. Mark to visit Alakyo Village with a team of journalists from the National Assembly, was false.

Mr. Alkali said that most of the journalists that accompanied Mr. Ewuga were not part of the newsmen that usually cover activities at the National Assembly, but journalists from Lafia.

Mr. Ewuga, who appeared at the commission’s sitting last month in Lafia, had said that the Senate President approved his visit to Alakyo Village in May. Mr. Ewuga also claimed that Mr. Mark had approved the journalists and security operatives that accompanied him

According to Mr. Alkali, the testimony of Mr. Ewuga at the commission was a clear indication that the Senator was aware of the activities of the Ombatse.

“In one aspect, he said, “I only read about them in a newspaper,” but later “confessed that he drove some youth in Ombatse clothing out of the stadium during the swearing in of (Tanko) Al- Makura as governor because they didn’t belong there,” Mr. Alkali said, pointing out alleged discrepancies in Mr. Ewuga’s statements to the judicial commission.

Mr. Alkali pointed out that, if truly the Senate President approved Mr. Ewuga’s visit to Alakiyo Village, why was the Senator under whose district the village fell, Suleiman Adokwe, not included in the entourage. He also asked why the entourage was only made up of Eggon people.

Mr. Alkali, stating that Kwararrafa was spread across 22 states and over 40 ethnic groups including the Idoma to which the Senate President belonged, said, as a responsible group, it would not stand and watch the reputation of one of its leaders be mutilated based on issues that the Senate President was unaware of.

He claimed that Kwararrafa was most hit by the Ombatse killings as most of the officers killed at Alakiyo were Idoma while those killed in Obi, Lafia were mostly Alego and all were members of Kwararrafa.