A group. the Okun Leaders League, (OLL), has called on security agencies to investigate Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo and his predecessor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello for possible complicity in the recent unsavoury developments in the security sector in Kogi West senatorial zone of the state.
In a statement jointly signed by Group Captain Denja Mahmud (rtd), Oworo, Lokoja; Canon Andrew Baiyekuhi, Kabba-Bunu; Mallam Qassim Yusuf, Ijumu; Dr James Ogbondeminu, Mopamuro; Engineer Omobowale Palufe. Yagba East; and Chief Samuel Obaro, Yagba West, the group said a hastily thought policy of back in 2018, Bello opened the doors of Kogi State to Fulani herdsmen for the establishment of cattle colonies in parts of the state.
OLL noted that while this, on the surface, was supposed to facilitate the establishment of cattle colonies to mitigate incessant bloody confrontations between the herdsmen and farming communities, Bello aimed to score further political capital.
“The move was both to ingratiate himself to former President Muhammadu Buhari, and to boost his electoral figures in the 2019 elections.
“Over the past seven years, the herdsmen have expanded across the sprawling, solid mineral-rich expanses of land in Kogi West and veered into illegal mining activities.
“Their activities are most pronounced in Yagba federal constituency, notably communities in Yagba East and Yagba West local government areas, easily the most afflicted by the scourge. Omowa Mopo, Ilafin, Odogbe and Oke-Ilero in Isanlu, headquarters of Yagba East council area where gold, granite, lithium and kaolin are being illegally mined, have been the butt of recent bandit attacks.
“Localities in Yagba West which have been serially unsettled by the criminal activities of marauders include Egbe, Ogbe, Ogga, Omi, Isanlu-Esa, Okoloke and Okunran. In instances, some of these communities were wholly evacuated by residents. The Eruku to Egbe road linking Kwara and Kogi states, has become a zone of dread and death in recent weeks. Just yesterday, worshippers in a church in Eruku were attacked by bandits who killed three persons and abducted a dozen. This was never the situation in Kogi West until Yahaya Bello entrenched Fulanis into the sociocultural scheme in Kogi State,” the statement read.
Okun Leaders League noted that conversely, the Kogi Central Senatorial Zone where Bello and Ododo come from, is suddenly the most peaceful part of the state.
“It hitherto had the reputation for being the most combustible section of the state, no thanks to communal clashes and youth unrest. Bello was indeed instrumental to the recent installation of two non-indigenous royals, the Sarkin Fulani and Sarkin Hausa in Ebiraland, Kogi Central, to consummate his long-orchestrated adulteration of the cultural practices of the state. This he did without consideration for the sociocultural sensitivities of the indigenous Ebira people, reputed for jealously guarding their culture. Kogi East occasionally witnesses episodes of kidnapping on roads and highways traversing the zone, but not on the scale which has cast a pall on Kogi West.
“Arising from the foregoing, it is very obvious that Yahaya Bello as governor indeed scripted the instability in Kogi West, which is being implemented by Ahmed Ododo. Whereas a very concerned Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State promptly requested presidential approval for the immediate deployment of more military and police personnel to contain rising insecurity in parts of the state outside of his own relatively safe Kwara Central Senatorial Zone, Ododo is content with the despairing security situation in Kogi West. His singular focus and that of his mentor, Yahaya Bello, is to con Kogi West into endorsing him for a second term even without tangible achievements to show.
“We call on the various intelligence and security agencies to probe the complicity of Bello and Ododo in the unabating insecurity situation in Kogi West Senatorial Zone.”
