- Urges Governor Ododo, Hon. Edibo Mark Ameh to disregard his rantings.
- He is suffering from hang over of SDP defeat in Kogi – Alhaji Umar.
A group under the aegis of Bagana Natives’ Forum (BNF) has vowed to deal decisively with Isaiah Davies Ijele and his sponsors over consistent attacks on the hallowed stool of OnuIfe and the claims of ownership of Bagana.
This is just as the group urged Governor Ododo to disregard Ijele’s songs of war and deal decisively with him before he truncate the ongoing peace process by the administration which has restored confidence to the people and are returning home to rebuild their properties.
The group identified Ijele’s attack on Bagana as a fallout of a dysfunctional parenting, which made him to exhibit monstrous behaviours against the society.
In a chat with Journalists in Lokoja on Thursday over Ijele’s outburst on the respected OnuIfe stool and the claim to ownership of Bagana, the spokesperson of the forum, Alhaji Ismaila Umar Imam Bagana, said Bagana as a community is not a no-man’s town, but a town whose aborigines have valid history of their sojourn.
Umar hinted that the difference between a native and an indigene is when ones forefathers was part of the founders, while indigenes are those whose forefathers were early settlers, even as resident is one that settled in a place at growth saturation period of the community.
He said Omagede people who settled, if any at all, in Bagana does so when Bagana had grown in leaps and bounds and therefore qualified only to be referred as residents and can not assumed any valid position in Bagana.
He identified original natives of Bagana to include Nupes, Kakandas, Hausas and Igalas, while Agatu, Egbira Koto are classified as indigenes and had lived together in harmony for many centuries before the advent of Ijele and co- travellers brought carnage for purpose of annexing Bagana.
The group warned ID Ijele who, he said, his forefathers had never in history lived in Bagana, and for him to have now become a drummer of war on Bagana, should be advised to stop forthwith as the natives have concomitant balance of power to pay him back in his coins.
Umar Bagana alleged that Ijele and collaborators have consistently launched attack on the natives of Bagana, targeting their properties, killed, maimed and raped their wives and children.
The spokesperson recalled that at the beginning of the crisis, Ijele and his Omagede cohorts had used mercenaries from Agatu who burnt down their houses, killed hundreds of their people and burnt down the sprawling cow market which was essentially their source of livelihoods.
He said the Bagana Natives had no guns but they have their God who has turned the booming guns of Omagede people against themselves and they are now crying foul.
While reminiscing the war against Bagana Natives by the people of Omagede, he said “the Omagede belligerents once adulated themselves as warriors, but in a twist by divine almighty God, the same guns they used against Bagana have been turned against themselves, for which Ijele, the Omagede jingoist, is now blaming everybody for their misfortune.”
He added that “Ijele and his pay masters having lost the war against Bagana have resorted to misinformation, hate speeches and fake news to whip up sentiment for their failed bid to take over Bagana.”
He explained that in their failed attempt to annex Bagana by force, now resorts to media propaganda and bandying so called Court judgements which allegedly ceded Bagana to Omagede, which is a fallacy, as no courts of reasonable jurisdiction would grant such prayers.
According to him, “Omagede is a cottage with less than 20 standard compounds. It has no relationship with modernity, no schools, no clinics, no roads, market, no single standard building. How will this despicable village claim to own Bagana, a town with over five thousands inhabitants? Is it because they have guns and other dangerous weapons which they have used to commit genocide against Bagana Natives?
“Ijele’s purported court judgement ceding Bagana to him is like taking someone’s hair to barbers shop for shaving without his consent. In his warped court judgement, Bagana was not joined in the suit. Bagana, which the belligerents want to grab by all means, was not in the know of the suit, rather, their neighbors were sued. It is like somebody just go to court to take over the entire Igala land without joining the communities in Igala land, rather, sued his enemies in Benue and Edo because they were so closed to AtaIgala. Is this not paradox and madness?
“For purpose of hindsight, the ownership of a community is determined by traditional stool, headship of religious body, and head of the market. And in the case of Bagana, the traditional head of Bagana from centuries has been rotated among the Nupes, Kakanda, Hausas and Igalas from Ife District without single person from Omagede ever ruled Bagana. Also, Bagana being a predominantly Muslim town, all the chief imams have been alternated among these aboriginal tribes, while the Onu Aja (Market chief) has been the preserve of Igalas from ODO IFE, meaning, Omagede people have no close relationship with Bagana to talk more of being the owner.
“Bagana has a hospital established way back in old Kwara state. Bagana primary school and John Holts trading company established during the colonial era bore the name Bagana Ife and not Bagana Omagede as Ijele is skewing to change the fact. I dare his contradiction, if Omagede people were not hired as slaves to guide Otutubatu tomb. The records are there in the northern Nigeria archive in Kaduna,” he revealed.
While clarifying that the historical Otutubatu, which is also at Idah, headquarters of Igala kingdom, is not synonymous with Omagede which he alleged is an Agatu slave settlement, he advise true Igala sons and daughters not to join Ijele to stoke division in Igala kingdom.
While commending Governor Ododo for the sustainable peace in Bagana, he appealed for immediate completion of process of appointing substantive Onu Bagana and drag Onuh Otutubatu and Ihiankpe to their respective domains to fast track enduring peace in Bagana.
