It was a torrent of tears and wailing in Okene, Kogi State when one of the policemen shot and killed by dare-devil armed robbers in Otukpo, Benue State was laid to rest on Monday evening.
Female Inspector Adija Bello was caught by the robbers’ bullets when they attacked the Divisional Police Station in Otukpo as they simultaneously robbed five Banks in the area last Friday.
Benue Police Command confirmed four of their officers, including the Divisional Police Officer, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP)John Adikwu, dead in the attack.
The corpse arrived Okene around 7pm on Monday after which it was taken to the cemetery for interment amid tears and sadness that enveloped the short burial ceremony.
Eyewitnesses said Inspector Adija Bello, who was on afternoon duty on the fateful day did not have any idea of what fate awaited her in the office as she prepared to leave home for official duties.
She was said to have taken her two daughters – Mejidat Abdulganiyu,7, and Faiza Abdulganiyu,2, to the home of one of her neighbours for safe keeping with the hope of picking them up on return from work.
This was however not to be as she fell and passed away following the gun attack by the criminals.
The husband of the deceased, Mr Abdulganiyu Omeiza, who is also a police officer attached to the Police Mobile Force (PMF) 54, Onitsha, Anambra State, lamented the gruesome murder of his wife while on official duty.
He said his wife was everything to him and he would miss her dearly.
He said the wife spoke to him
on phone shortly before her untimely death in the hands of the robbers.
Omeiza, who spoke on phone, said: “She was everything to me. I really miss her every day. Everyday before she goes to work or take the kids to school, I will call her to know how they are doing.
“Even on that fateful day we spoke a night before and I told her I will be on night duty. From that night duty once I closed, I normally call her by 7am.
“But I woke up by 8.00am and I called her. She said she did not want to disturb me because she knew since I was on night duty I would not be able to call them early.
“So on that very day, around a few minutes to 3pm, she called me. We talked but I did not know that would be the last time I would speak with my wife.”
A close friend to the deceased, Emma Yambasu, described her as a selfless personality who went out of her way often to make others happy.
“She was a very good person, she had a heart of gold, she was so selfless and always put others before herself. There is nobody that don’t know her in Otukpo because of her kindness and friendly disposition.
“I don’t know why they would do this. It’s not like they tried to stop them,” she said amid tears.
…Nobody was killed at the said meeting – Yaro, APC state chair
There is disagree-ment over the death of five persons, allegedly killed at a zonal caucus meeting of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Benue South Senatorial District in Otukpo, Benue State.
According to an eyewitness, Omale Obande, the meeting was attended by the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, and other elected and political office holders from Benue State, including the chairman of APC in Benue State, Abba Yaro.
Mr. Obande told The Nation that there was disagreement over the purported endorsement of the chairman of APC, Abba Yaro, as some party men and women who attended the zonal caucus meeting kicked against his endorsement for a second term as chairman.
The chairman of the APC, Benue State Chapter, Abba Yaro, has been in a running battle with some APC members and they have vowed to replace him at the coming party congress.
But the chairman, according to some sources, is scheming behind the scene for re-election and his ambition is generating tension within the state chapter of APC.
But at the zonal meeting, where the matter was discussed, according to the eyewitness, some thugs attacked some members alleged to be opposed to Yaro’s re-election. This degenerated into a fracas where five people were allegedly killed while many others sustained serious injuries.
But in his reaction, the chairman of APC, Abba Yaro, told The Nation that nobody was killed at the zonal meeting held in Otukpo.
“The meeting took place at Double K Hotel in Otukpo and it was peaceful and ended on a peaceful note,” he said. Abba Yaro added that his enemies are the ones spreading the dangerous rumour.
Police spokesman Moses Yamu’s official confirmation could not be obtained as he failed to pick his calls yesterday.
Mr Oise Ofala, the Benue Coordinator of Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB), has assured candidates writing the Unified Tertiary Examinations (UMTE) in the state of hitch-free examination.
Ofala tod the Newsmen on Friday in Makurdi that JAMB staff involved in the examination as well as security personnel detailed to monitor the exercise had been assigned to the centres.
He said the Computer Based Test (CBT) would be conducted in 12 centres spread across the three Senatorial districts of the state.
The coordinator said that two security personnel had been assigned to each centre and assured that the back-up coverage would accommodate any computer challenge during the examination.
“We are 100 per cent ready and prepared for the examination; two security personnel are assigned to every centre. We are not relying on public power supply as we have our generators.
” Every centre has the capacity to carry 250 candidates per session and some centres can carry up to three sessions per day,” he said.
He, however, declined to mention the number of candidates writing the examination in the state.
” I do not have that statistics; the whole thing was done before my arrival. As you can see, I just took over as the state coordinator,” he said.
Newsmen Report that the examination will be conducted in Makurdi, Gboko, Katsina-Ala, Oju and Otukpo.
A project verification team from the Fiscal Responsibility Commission has accused SCC Nigeria Ltd, handlers of the N17.1 billion Otukpo Multipurpose Dam Project in Benue, of abandoning work after receiving full payment.
Mr Samson Eletuo, the Team Leader, made this known on Wednesday in Otukpo that less than 35 per cent of the job had been done.
“The handlers have received 100 per cent payment. The contract sum was N17.1 billion. That has been paid, but the work is barely 35 per cent,” Eletuo said.
Eletuo, Deputy Director (Finance) of the commission, said that the N17 billion was paid to the construction firm three years ago.
He expressed surprise at the level of work at the site, saying that the commission would take further steps to ascertain what happened.
The project, which was awarded for N17.1 billion in 2010, took off in March 2011 and was to be completed within 36 months.
The dam was expected to provide a 130-million cubic meters reservoir and a 3.3 KV hydro power plant for effective water supply upon completion.
Mr Charles Abana, Deputy Team Leader of the verification team, also suggested a careful review of the contract to provide portable water supply and electricity to the immediate community.
“In the initial contract agreement, hydro power, portable water supply, irrigation and the construction of the dam were included in the project.
“But hydro power and water supply have been removed from the specification, yet the handlers say they are asking for additional N32 billion in a review.
“For such a massive review to be done, what is already on the ground should justify the money earlier collected.
“Our major concern is that government should get the value of money spent on projects across the country. We do not seem to have such value on this particular job,” he said.
Mr Sabastine Oteba, SCC Resident Engineer, however said that the company had already requested a contract review to N49 billion “to overcome technical issues”.
“The N32 billion increment has become necessary because the cost of items has gone up.
“The hydro power aspect of the project has been removed, but we had agreed that the project foundation should be six metres. We have taken it to 11 meters,” he said.
He said that the project would involve 2000 hectares of land for irrigation, 13 kilometres road, in addition to the dam.
Oteba said that the handlers abandoned the job three years ago, after spending more than the N17.1 paid to them.
“The company has a certificate of N9 billion that is yet to be paid. The money was incurred after the N17.1 billion was used up,” he said.
He explained that the review was done by experts in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.
AMOS ABBA writes on the dilapidating state of Benue’s Otukpo rice mill; a once burgeoning enterprise now cast in despair and under productivity.
In the hot and humid sun of the Benue region, building number 2, located within the premises of the popular Otukpo rice mill looks undignified. Wearing a rusted corrugated roof which bears the insignia of old age, its deserted parking lot reflects the sorry state of a rice mill created over 50 years ago for commercial purposes.
The scanty flow of customers in and out of the building does not typify the flurry of activities that usually welcomes the peak of the harvest season when paddy rice was milled and processed at the mill in the past.
Valentine Egwa was working on a faulty rice huller, a machine that removes husk from paddy rice when the reporter met him. A graduate of psychology from the University of Jos, Egwa’s failed attempt to clinch a white – collar job compelled him to get involved in the production process of rice at the mill since 1997. Ever since acquiring rice hullers some years ago, he has become an employer of labour at the mill. However, Egwa is quick to renounce the traditional practices involved in the trade.
He said: “The problem affecting Otukpo rice mill is the crude methods used to process rice locally. This makes the rice not to be stone free, making customers prefer imported rice to locally processed ones”.
Records of observation at the mill confirmed Egwa’s assertion. Many of the hullers used in processing the rice are aged and archaic, with many having been in existence as far back as 80 years ago. The poor facilities make it impossible for the mill to compete with marketers of foreign rice.
Otukpo rice mill with its sketchy history is arguably the first commercial rice milling plant in West Africa, set- up and managed by the defunct Idoma technical trading company (I.T.T.C). Located in Otukpo local government area of Benue state, the mill was created to provide gainful employment opportunities to the Idoma- speaking people of the middle belt and Benue state in particular.
At the time the mill was established, projections were set that Otukpo would be a commercial nerve center in the middle belt region of the country. The hope of the projection was hinged on the fact that the mill would attract traders from different parts of the country to Otukpo for the purchase of its locally processed rice. The rice mill once boasted of a staff strength of 3,000 people involved in the different stages of rice processing, working day and night, equipped with over 200 milling engines spanning over 20 hectares of land.
It was the largest employer of labour in its heyday in Otukpo and served as a veritable source of livelihood to many people. But those were the past glories; adversity weighed in on Otukpo rice mill in the late nineties.
Undermined by decrepit infrastructure, under-utilized labour force and under-performance; major customers from different states across the country no longer patronized the mill. The long distance involved in transportation of the rice products also contributes in no small measure to the dwindling fortunes of the mill.
Rice huller at Otukpo rice mill processing rice.
There is evidence to suggest that the now decrepit mill used to be a booming enterprise providing jobs for young people and women.
Samuel Ochigbo, a resident in the area reminisced about the mill when it was still booming.
“The rice mill provided jobs for people in the area. They were those selling fire wood to the millers and those providing water for pay. Everyone, both young and old had something to do. The rice chaff usually gathered was very high from the ground. It was a sight to behold until things began to decline steadily.”
With the federal government’s position on banning the importation of foreign rice; there appears to be prospects for local millers in the country as government’s expenditure would be channeled to utilizing the production capacity of the various rice millers across the country.
However, some rice farmers are not optimistic as there appears to be virtually no plan to strengthen and boost local production.
“You cannot ban importation of rice by legislation and expect everything to be fine. If certain steps are not taken to position the local millers to bridge the demand-supply gap of local production of rice, then consumers will face the horror of skyrocket prices of local rice if there is a total ban,” Valentine Egwa pointed out.
Millers in Otukpo rice mill face serious hurdles in meeting the basic requirements of local rice production because certain critical variables are not available. The mill does not generate its own power so when public power supply is interrupted, commercial activities in the mill grinds to a halt. Workers in the mill rely on water tankers sourced from neighbouring suburbs of Otukpo town like Otobi and Ochobo. The water does not come cheap; it is sold at exorbitant rates especially during the dry season.
James Iduh, a trader at the mill also highlighted some of the problems faced by workers. He urged government to provide more transformers to ensure access to electricity at full voltage as well as provide pipe borne water to help reduce the cost of the production of rice.
Furthering, he said: “We have been introduced to several co-operative societies to secure loans to improve our business but nothing is forthcoming. If government can assist us, it will go a long way in restoring the mill back to life.”
Rice workers at risk
A worker at Otukpo rice mill washing paddy rice.
The physical demanding nature of the activities involved in the production of locally processed rice has affected workers productivity and exposed them to serious health risks.
Emmanuel Obute, a final year student of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi whose palms have turned coarse as a result of exposure to the fire involved in the process of cooking rice in the mill called on the government to come to their aid, saying there should be an endowment fund to cater for those injured in the course of working on the mill plant.
Also, other young people involved in the temporary casual works in the mill to aid their immediate financial needs see their job not only as underpaying but disdainful.
David Baba, who had worked intermittently for six years at the mill on a part-time basis while as a student disclosed that it is difficult to return to the mill to work, considering its present state at a
time when locally processed rice is no longer patronized.
“Government should provide modern rice milling engines that separate the rice from stones at subsidized rates to Otukpo rice millers to keep them gainfully employed. This will make young people interested in the business”, he submitted.
The Appeal Court sitting in Makurdi, Benue State, yesterday upheld the decision of a lower court to restore the suppressed ‘Otukpo state constituency.’
By this judgment, election shall be held to produce a member representing Otukpa in the House of Assembly.
Otukpa is the headquarters of Ogbadibo Local Government with its state constituency before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) withdrew it in the Third Republic, thereby making Otukpa share the same constituency with Ogbadibo.
Consequent upon the withdrawal, a pressure group, Otukpa Alede Club, Makurdi went to court to challenge INEC’s decision.
The matter, which wasfirst heard in the high court, was ruled in favour of Otukpa community last year but the judgment was appealed against by INEC.
With the Appeal Court victory, Ogbadibo Local Govenment Area shall produce two members in the Assembly (Otukpa constituency and Orokam/Owukpa constituency).
Betty Abah, a Lagos-based writer, activist and coordinator of CEE-HOPE Nigeria recalls Christmas celebrations while growing up in Otukpo, Benue State.
I remember especially the rice, the stew-saturated and meat laced-rice that arrived our home shortly after dawn, as the special morning breaks into a toothless smile. They were borne on the bent heads of fellow kids or in the hands of beautiful maidens. We would suspend our work ‘supervising’ the roasting goat. We would devour those as first course while awaiting our mothers’ which would come late, inspite of Baba’s chiding.
The good, old Christmas was indeed a day of suspensions. The rebukes, the spanks suspended, tied up to the rafters; the cold, early morning ‘flight’ to Army Children’s School, Ojira also suspended till January when Mr. Fasako would await us, eyeing offenders, brandishing his trademark cane….. and gladly too, the painful routines of pushing Baba’s jalopy station wagon which emitted smokes directly into our young lungs in the early morning breeze as we stomped the red, rising dusts, eight, ten tiny pairs of feet at a time…a routine from which we had no escape on ordinary days for to disobey Baba was tantamount to embarking gleefully on a suicide mission.
A Christmas in Otukpo was a day of immense goodwill. After the rice, topped with the usual brewed cereal drink (umu or kunu), we start pounding the roads to show off our new dresses, shoes, eye glasses etc (sometimes over-sized or undersized), and visit relatives, where, after boutfuls of yet more meals and a shout of ‘Api Klismas’, we were sure to return home, our petite made-in-China handbags sagging with coins or stuffed with a few notes. Oh, even Mama who always ensured we minimized our meat intakes so we don’t turn out ‘bad children’ somehow forgot her principles and allow us the Christmas-day-spoiling…
And, isn’t it amazing how the road-side masquerades and booming bangers broke through our sanctimonious walls and airs obtained at the Methodist Church, Jericho Section during the previous night’s carol? We would yell with abandon, and run after the masquerades, or they gave us hot chases, whip-in-hand, our shoes dangling in our hands. Sometime too, we would recognize a masquerade, especially if it/he had a limp!
One of our major destinations was Ogwonu-Igbalapa (‘stumble-seven-times’) area of town, named for its crooked, stony streets, some, sadly, still unchanged. But we didn’t mind the stones. Our minds were on the coins. We dare not go near the Babylon area of town which had the railway line, for why, the trains would magnetize and kill us if we dare!
Our ideal Christmases were borne to us on the breezy backs of the harmattan in the mid-eighties and early nineties in Otukpo aka ‘Texas’, the red-soil enclave of Benue. Those were Christmases of immense goodwill. Christmases that smelt so good. Christmases of sweet re-unions… Christmases where the rich from the cities returned, showing off their wealth without fright of mid-way stops, temporarily enriching the have-nots with their city-scented crumbs… when bachelors, after year-long labours in Lagos or in the textile mills of the north came home and had a rethink of their status at the sight of maidens…
Oh, for Christmases saturated with love!
There was something spiritually elevating, there was something electrifying, even magnetizing about those Christmases, whose day we counted three months ahead—- the happy Christmases of yesteryears… Christmases without cracks, Christmases without chaos, Christmases without the Kalashnikovs..!
Oh! My by-gone Christmases of new clothes, bogus meals… Christmases without strife, where people attended carols without looking over their shoulders for fear of the unknown… Christmases without fear of kidnappers lurking in the dark— hungry, angry youngsters holding the haves down in dingy hells, magnifying anarchy— while politicians say is all well…
Oh, how I love, love the Christmases of my childhood! How I love to reincarnate the Christmases of unblemished years…
For some curious reasons the rice rarely arrived here in Lagos. Relatives here think I am too old now to be given a coin or two (that is if they are even still legal tenders and could still purchase the tingling goodie-goodie chocolate), and the traffic is in no mood to pamper Christmas revelers. I miss the special aromas of Christmases-made-in-Otukpo, an aroma arising from the sweet blend of roasted goat meat and the specially made rice stew.
Kai, I loath Christmases in Lagos…! Drab..drumless..goatless..coinless…
Oh, for Christmases back in Otukpo… The Christmases of my childhood… Christmases which were scented. Christmases which were serenading.
Christmases which were safe nation-wide…
Christmases of Christ-like innocence…When God became man that man may become God…!
Those are the Christmases I will always, gladly REMEMBER…!
Abah is a Lagos-based writer, activist and coordinator of CEE-HOPE Nigeria.
