89 Killed in Benue community in 3 months -Group claims

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

Over 89 persons have been killed in 31 communities in the last three months in Apa local government area of Benue State by unknown gunmen.

This disclosure was made by Chairman, Apa Development Association Barr. Eche Akpoko during a press briefing held at Correspondents’ chapel Secretariat yesterday in Makurdi.

This is just as several property were destroyed, several houses burnt and thousands of persons have been displaced.

Akpoko decried that the deceased victims suffered carnage in the most dastard, gruesome and inhuman nanner.

He added that in spite of the barrage of attacks on the innocent and defenseless people,the Federal government has failed to give it the desired attention that will yield a long lasting solution to this lawlessness.

He also, decried that these trigger happy gunmen are never brought to book by the Federal government.

“We call on the Federal Government to deploy Law enforcement agents to the flash points to defend and protect the defenseless and innocent Apa indigenes.

“In the event of government failure to protect lives and property as its primary duty, the people may be compelled to activate their rights of self defense which may lead to total breakdown of law and order.

“We further call on both the Federal and State governments to mobilize their relevant agencies such as National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA and Benue State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA to provide relief materials to the improverished without any source of livelihood and have become refugees in their own land”, Akpoko said.

Kogi Guber race : LP Aspirant, Ahmadu-Afolabi

vows to curb political intolerance, hostility

By Stanley Onyekwere

Afemale aspirant for the Kogi State gubernatorial seat, under the Labour Party, Dr. Atule AhmaduAfolabi has declared her capacity to tackle political discrimination and other social vices, allegedly threatening security and democratic principles in the state.

Ahmadu-Afolabi spoke when she took the battle to Abuja, scouting for both Kogi indigenes and other supporters

The aspirant, who was at the

Party’s Presidential Campaign Office, venue for governorship Screening, in Abuja on Tuesday , noted that Kogi state has been characterized by so many political abnormalities, which only a determined and caring mother can change.

Bemoaning the rate of political intolerance and hostility to the women folk in the state, she vowed not to be deterred by any of the antics which male politicians were using to scare women away.

She explained that her decision, seeking to occupy the

Lord Lugard House in Lokoja as next Governor of the state, was predicated on the urgent needs to salvage the state from imminent collapse, due to maladministration.

She further stated that apart from denying civil servants their legitimate wages by the present administration, the state’s healthcare system, was in a deep mess.

“Going through the health institutions, some of them don’t have basic paracetamol. These are the things we are here to change.

“My main focus is to ensure that Kogi state is economically viable through selfless services.

“If you are driving round the state now, you could see hunger physically on the faces of the people. That is why I am here to change the narrative for good”, she stressed.

According to her, both human and natural resources which Kogi is endowed with, have not been properly harnessed and managed by successive governments in the state.