Ebonyi Killing: Osinbajo Promises Relief Materials, Justice

The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo, has assured that
the federal government would mobilise the National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA) and the Ministry of Humanitarian Service
and Disaster Management to provide relief materials to the victims
of bandits’ attack in Egedegede, Obegu and Amuzu communities in
Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

Osibanjo, who spoke during a stakeholders meeting after he
visited the communities, noted that the federal government was
deeply worried over the unfortunate attack.

He was accompanied by the Minister for Information, Mr. Lai
Mohammed and the Minister for State Mines and Steel, Mr. Uche
Ogah.

He also noted that he visited the state on the direction of
President Muhammad Buhari and added that the federal government has
beefed up security especially in the affected communities and is
seeking justice for those who were killed and for those who have
lost their properties,.

Osibanjo also visited the Ezza-Effium community where several
lives were lost in a communal clash in the state.

He said: “This massacre is very sad indeed and very unfortunate.
I am here at the direction of Mr. President. At times when things
like this happen, when people are killed, when incidents like this
happen and you feel particularly outraged.

“The reason is that those who have been mercilessly massacred
are people like you and I who have hopes and aspiration; young
ones, females and children who are people who woke up in the
morning and are expected to go about their normal business, they
are expected to go out and fend for themselves but they ended up
dead not because of anything they have done wrong but because of
cowardly wicked act by some of some other people who live in the
same community with them.

“I sympathise with not just the governor and the people of
Ebonyi State but in particular people of the communities that have
been affected. I think that what we have seen here is very cowardly
and wicked and all of us condemn it and we say that it must not be
allowed to happen again.”

The Ebonyi State Governor, Mr. David Umahi, warned that there
would be serious consequences if another attack happens anywhere in
this state because nobody would be able to restrain the youths and
people of the state.

Umahi appealed to the federal government to pay N2 billion as
compensation to the victims of the Ishielu massacre and N3 billion
for Ezza-Effium’s victims.

He said: “Let me as the chief security officer in this state say
that there will be serious consequences if another attack happens
here in Ebonyi State because nobody will be able to hold the
youths, nobody will be able to hold the people. It is very
important that we do everything very important to forestall any
other attack not only in Ebonyi but in the entire South-east”.

“I want to thank you and thank Mr. President for this prompt
action you have taken to visit this peace loving community. We are
touched and we are encouraged by this visit.

“If the government fails to do something sir, it will be on
record that the people did their best by providing these very vital
information. The killers are not hidden. They are there, Sir, with
their pictures, the call logs. I am told that there was a
particular person they were calling. They called him Bishop Frank
Shakespeare, and they called him before the attack, called him
after the attack. Your Excellency, I am told there are over 50
contacts there, over 50 call logs there.”

“Your excellency, we have made all effort to make peace between
the farmers and herders in this state and by extension in the
South-east. They have a platform that involves even the herdsmen in
our local governance. There is no name the governors of the
South-east are not being called. They call us cowards and all kinds
of manes because we know there is a need for peace in this country.
We know that one crisis in any part of this country can degenerate
to a very serious civil war. We don’t want another civil war in
this country but it is in the hands of everybody.”

The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo, has assured that
the federal government would mobilise the National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA) and the Ministry of Humanitarian Service
and Disaster Management to provide relief materials to the victims
of bandits’ attack in Egedegede, Obegu and Amuzu communities in
Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

Osibanjo, who spoke during a stakeholders meeting after he
visited the communities, noted that the federal government was
deeply worried over the unfortunate attack.

He was accompanied by the Minister for Information, Mr. Lai
Mohammed and the Minister for State Mines and Steel, Mr. Uche
Ogah.

He also noted that he visited the state on the direction of
President Muhammad Buhari and added that the federal government has
beefed up security especially in the affected communities and is
seeking justice for those who were killed and for those who have
lost their properties,.

Osibanjo also visited the Ezza-Effium community where several
lives were lost in a communal clash in the state.

He said: “This massacre is very sad indeed and very unfortunate.
I am here at the direction of Mr. President. At times when things
like this happen, when people are killed, when incidents like this
happen and you feel particularly outraged.

“The reason is that those who have been mercilessly massacred
are people like you and I who have hopes and aspiration; young
ones, females and children who are people who woke up in the
morning and are expected to go about their normal business, they
are expected to go out and fend for themselves but they ended up
dead not because of anything they have done wrong but because of
cowardly wicked act by some of some other people who live in the
same community with them.

“I sympathise with not just the governor and the people of
Ebonyi State but in particular people of the communities that have
been affected. I think that what we have seen here is very cowardly
and wicked and all of us condemn it and we say that it must not be
allowed to happen again.”

The Ebonyi State Governor, Mr. David Umahi, warned that there
would be serious consequences if another attack happens anywhere in
this state because nobody would be able to restrain the youths and
people of the state.

Umahi appealed to the federal government to pay N2 billion as
compensation to the victims of the Ishielu massacre and N3 billion
for Ezza-Effium’s victims.

He said: “Let me as the chief security officer in this state say
that there will be serious consequences if another attack happens
here in Ebonyi State because nobody will be able to hold the
youths, nobody will be able to hold the people. It is very
important that we do everything very important to forestall any
other attack not only in Ebonyi but in the entire South-east”.

“I want to thank you and thank Mr. President for this prompt
action you have taken to visit this peace loving community. We are
touched and we are encouraged by this visit.

“If the government fails to do something sir, it will be on
record that the people did their best by providing these very vital
information. The killers are not hidden. They are there, Sir, with
their pictures, the call logs. I am told that there was a
particular person they were calling. They called him Bishop Frank
Shakespeare, and they called him before the attack, called him
after the attack. Your Excellency, I am told there are over 50
contacts there, over 50 call logs there.”

“Your excellency, we have made all effort to make peace between
the farmers and herders in this state and by extension in the
South-east. They have a platform that involves even the herdsmen in
our local governance. There is no name the governors of the
South-east are not being called. They call us cowards and all kinds
of manes because we know there is a need for peace in this country.
We know that one crisis in any part of this country can degenerate
to a very serious civil war. We don’t want another civil war in
this country but it is in the hands of everybody.”