Chima Azubuike Following the killing of nine persons at a cattle market, the Abia State Government, on Monday, sent a delegation to co...
Chima Azubuike
Following the killing of nine persons at a cattle market,
the Abia State Government, on Monday, sent a delegation to condole with the
families of the deceased in Gombe State.
Seven of the victims, who were killed by hoodlums, were said
to be indigenes of Gombe State.
According to the acting President, Cattle Dealers
Association of Nigeria, Yahuza Yusuf, no government from the southern part of
the country had shown sympathy to the body like the Abia State Governor, Okezie
Ikpeazu.
He disclosed that the governor, who made it clear that he
could not compensate for the lives lost, promised N2m naira each to the
families of the deceased, which had yet to be redeemed, adding that about
N150,000 had been provided.
“We asked him (Ikpeazu) to pay for our damages and he said
he couldn’t pay for all our damages, but he gave us N150,000 as the worth of
each cow and he promised to support the affected families to survive and
additional N2m to the families, but that has yet to be paid,” Yusuf stated.
He also revealed that the association went to Abia State to
bring back surviving members, noting that Ikpeazu objected to the decision.
“The governor said the people were under his care; he gave
us good attention and we stayed with him for more than three hours. That is the
only governor who did that to us since all these things happened in the South,”
Yusuf added.
On his part, the representative of the governor and
paramount ruler of Abriba, Kalu Ogbu, expressed sadness over the killings.
Ogbu stated, “I’m here to extend our sympathy and
condolences to the people and the government of Abia State. The incident is sad
and I don’t know how to explain it. There is no word to explain what happened
as it was the handiwork of misguided fellows.
“Thank God that our governor has taken up the responsibility
to make sure that those behind it are caught to face the full wrath of the
law.”
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