Press Release by
Ibilla Community Development Association, ICDA
June 29, 2023
UNPROVOKED KILLINGS AND DESTRUCTION OF IBILLA PEOPLE AND VILLAGES BY OJU CLAN OF OJU LGA, BENUE STATE
We the law-abiding, peace-loving and helpless citizens of Ibilla clan of Oju LGA have deliberately refrained from responding to the vicious attack against the Ibilla people and villages on Sunday, 11th June, 2023 (BLACK SUNDAY) by Oju clan in the interest of peace and unity of our dear Oju LGA and Igede land as a whole.
Painfully, the attack resulted to the heartless killings of countless indigenes of Ibilla and destruction of properties worth billions of naira. We have also intentionally refrained from reacting to the hateful and disdainful press statements issued by the Oju clan on the subject matter.
However, owing to the continuous misinformation and disinformation in the public space, we feel compelled to make a public statement on the attack on our people thus:
1. That the Ibilla people are aware that the Oju clan in a hasty and desperate attempt to cover up their violent and premeditated attack against Ibilla people on that BLACK SUNDAY has been engaging in false propaganda especially with the narrative that it was Ibilla people that provoked their action of killing our helpless people on the Sunday morning worship period.
At the appropriate platform which we hope will be provided by concerned stakeholders, the unfortunate falsehood being circulated in the media will be corrected accordingly.
2. We are also aware that the erection of a signpost sometime in Otober 2022 with an Oju clan address on it at Imoho village of Ibilla clan where the University of Applied Science and Technology (UNAST) was initially planned to be established by a foreign based son of Ibilla,
Prof. Johnson Ihie Agbinya was intended to provoke a reaction from Ibilla people to pave way for Oju people to implement their well prepared plot to violently attack Ibilla people. Interestingly, Ibilla people did not respond to the known schemes of Oju people in the interest of peace in our area.
3. It is a known fact too that Oju clan has a large cache of weapons of mass destruction with funding from their prominent sons and daughters as well as their supporters to annihilate the Ibilla clan, take over our land and rename every Ibilla village as Oju.
The procurement of such large weapons is to also enforce their creed that since the Federal Government has named our Local Government as Oju, the local government headquarters and now all villages in Ibilla clan must adopt the name, Oju as identity.
4. We are equally aware that the Oju clan is violently frustrating/preventing the establishment of the proposed University of Applied Science and Technology, an institution that would contribute to the social and economic development of Oju LGA, Benue State and Nigeria as a whole.
No wonder, when the late Walter Rodney wrote the book, “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa”, one wouldn’t have imagined that his thoughts would one day translate to how some group of Igede people are under developing our already impoverished land.
We note that Oju people are only hiding under pretentious demand for the renaming of the university location, Oba Oluwa which is an age long undisputed farmland belonging to Anyuwogbu village of Ibilla to Oga Oluwa (an Oju clan IDP camp also made up of displaced settlers from neighbouring Orikpi community of Uwokwu).
The Anyuwogbu village of Ibilla clan who are the age long owners of the land has freely donated the land for the establishment of the proposed University but the Oju people are killing our people and destroying our hard earned properties to fulfill their creed that every village in Ibilla must carry Oju name as identity.
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In all these massive killings of Ibilla people, destruction of our properties and unwarranted provocation by Oju people, we have continued to act lawfully and in good wisdom which largely prevented the possible unimaginable casualties.
It is in view of our current state of helplessness that we call on the government, traditional institution, elders of Igede land and all people of good conscience to rescue the peace-loving people of Ibilla community from total annihilation from our ancestral land.
Signed:
Mr. Jerry A. Ede
National President,
Ibilla Community Development Association
Mr. Victor Obeka
National Secretary,
Ibilla Community Development Association
It's disheartening
ReplyDeleteA well written, concise and articulated press statement that seek to bring to limelight the origin of the dispute farmland and the damages inflicted by our supposed brother from Oju clan.
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