Hundreds of residents of Agojeju-Odo community in Omala Local Government Area of Kogi State, who were displaced when gunmen attacked their community, have pleaded with the federal and state governments to assist them in returning home.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how the gunmen, locally called bandits, attacked the community on Thursday, killing 25 people. Many others were also injured while survivors fled to neighbouring communities to seek shelter.
The slain people were buried on Saturday in Kogi
Some displaced residents spoke to journalists who visited them at a neighbouring community, Bagaji-Odo, on Saturday.
Patience Akauwu, a 67-year-old woman, said that life had become hard for them, having lost their farm produce to the attackers.
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“We have been displaced and suffering here in Bagaji-Odo due to lack of food and a conducive place to stay.
“All we are asking for is the federal and state governments to assist in providing adequate security for us to return home,” she pleaded.
Also, Joshua Salifu, a farmer, said that his wife and children were still missing and pleaded with the government to help find them.
He said that when the gunmen attacked the community between 3:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, everyone in the village ran for their lives.
“At that time, we were running for our dear lives. I’m here in Bagaji-Odo not knowing where my wife and children are.
“I took part in the burial of the 25 persons killed, but my wife or any of my children was not among them,” he said.
Mr Salifu said that he was afraid to go back to the village to search for his loved ones and was helpless.
Another displaced resident, Paul Achabo, a farmer, begged the government to help set up a military presence in the Agojeju-Odo community, a border village between Benue and Kogi.
Mr Achabo said that unless there was adequate security in the community, they could not go back for fear that the bandits might return.
According to him, all their foodstuffs such as yam, cassava, maize, cashew and beans were carted away by the bandits.
The District Head of Bagaji-Odo, David Akpa, also pleaded with the government to come to assist the IDPs and the affected communities
“This is because we don’t have the kind of sophisticated weapons the bandits have to face them.
“God knows we have no problem with the herdsmen around us but why they did this to our people we don’t understand,” the traditional ruler said.
None of the attackers have been apprehended and the police have yet to disclose their identities. However, some residents said they suspected the gunmen to be armed herders who were avenging the alleged killing of six herders in the area.
The attack has been condemned by federal and state officials.
On Saturday, the Kogi State Governor, Usman Ododo, suggested that the attack might be a fallout of a communal dispute.
Mr Ododo, who spoke in Lokoja, said he regretted the ugly dimension that communal clashes between people in the area have assumed over time.
He promised immediate intervention by his administration to forestall a reoccurrence of the unfortunate situation.
“I am assuring the citizens that the perpetrators of the dastardly act will be brought to justice soon,” he said. “Already, security agencies are on the trail of the assailants whose acts of mindless cowardice resulted in the destruction of lives and property in the area.”
The governor said he has sent a delegation led by the state’s Deputy Governor, Joel Oyibo-Salifu, on a condolence visit to the area.
According to him, the measures deployed by the state government have led to relative stability in the Omala Local Government Area until the recent escalation of the conflict.
He further promised to deploy a detachment of the recently established Metropolitan Quick Response to the area to complement the existing security architecture in Omala LGA.
He commiserated with relatives of those killed in the crisis and promised that the government would provide support for those injured and others whose houses were destroyed in the attack.
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