The Nation Newspaper

Tag: villagers

  • ‘Villagers believe rats have high nutritional value’

    Ebonyi State government is to campaign against rat consumption in rural areas where residents believe rats have high nutritional value, Environment Commissioner Chief Donatus Njoku has said.

    He told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abakaliki that the government would dissuade people from eating rats, to prevent further outbreaks of Lassa fever.

    NAN reports that Lassa fever outbreak in the state in January resulted in four deaths.

    Njoku said: “Rats are the primary vectors of the disease, and we are vigorously carrying out enlightenment through mass media, workshops, seminars and ministries’ communication channels.

    “We will collaborate with traditional rulers and other opinion leaders at the grassroots to educate rural dwellers to shun such a notion and realise that rat is the disease’s primary vector.

    ”We have continued to sensitise the populace to report suspected cases to relevant health agencies.

    “With the total functionality of the state government-owned South-East Virology Centre, such an occurrence can be expeditiously handled.’’

    On sanitation, he said contrary to insinuations, non-observance of the monthly sanitation did not affect effective sanitation.

    “State and Federal Government functions sometimes fall on the last Saturday of the month, and when this occurs, we have to comply.

    ”The government has evolved policies, which make the populace to clean their environment on a daily basis and not wait for designated days,” the commissioner said.

    Njoku told NAN that the Ministry of Environment ensured that civil servants cleaned their environments daily as directed by the governor.

    ”We assess their performances to ascertain the level of compliance. To show his seriousness toward the directive, the governor visits the ministries for on-the-spot assessment.

  • Villagers petition Obasanjo over land row with aide

    Villagers petition Obasanjo over land row with aide

    An aide to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Sheu Oladunjoye, and residents of Akinbiye, Ikalugbase and Ikereku in Ogun State are fighting over 53 acres Oladunjoye allegedly bought from them.

    The residents have written to Obasanjo.

    Oladunjoye said Obasanjo informed him about their letter, saying that the villagers misrepresented and defamed him in the letter.

    The aide added that the petition, signed by a lawyer, Innocent Okoihue, and dated December 11, accused him of fraud.

    The petitioners, according to him, claimed that efforts to stop work on the land failed.

    According to him, he (Oladunjoye) drove them away and deprived them “rights of access to their family land”.

    Although Okoihue admitted that the petitioners (villagers) were given N3 million “for transport” during a visit to Oladunjoye to discuss the land, they want Obasanjo to intervene.

    Addressing reporters and residents in Abeokuta, the capital, at the weekend, Oladunjoye threatened to sue the villagers, if they failed to retract “defamatory materials” in their petition.

    He claimed to have paid N5 million to their representatives for the land, valued at N10.6 million, pending a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) before the balance would be paid.

    Oladunjoye wondered how that became an issue.

    He added that some of them, including Chief Aremu Makinde and Moruf Muritala (representing Fatoki family), were paid for a section of Ikalugbase  land while Mr Semiu Babalola reportedly received part-payment for the portion at Ikereku-Onigbongbo.

    According to him, he moved started work on the land because buyer and sellers hailed from the same area.

    Oladunjoye hoped that once the MoU is signed, the balance will be paid.

    On behalf of the villages, Semiu Babalola, who was in company of 13 other residents, admitted that they collected N5 million from Oladunjoye.

    Babalola denied knowledge of how the petition to Obasanjo against Oladunjoye came about, but pledged that the matter will be resolved.

  • Monarch flees as villagers set ablaze palace

    The traditional ruler of Oghoghobi community in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government of Edo State, Kingsley Omorose, has fled his community after villagers set ablaze his palace.

    Other property belonging to the monarch was torched, including those owned by his loyalists.

    The villagers stormed the palace after gunmen allegedly killed a former youth chairman of the community, Mr. Lambert Igbinomwahia, popularly called ‘Let them say.’

    The deceased was killed at his home by gunmen.

    A source said the villagers suspected the monarch to be the mastermind of the killing, as he allegedly threatened him.

    The deceased’s mother, Magdalene, said Lambert was her only son.

    She said: “The Enogie called my son and told him to stop selling land. My son said he had not been selling land.”

    Magdalene urged security agencies to arrest her son’s killers.

    The embattled traditional ruler, who spoke through phone, described the allegations as false, saying it was a plot to dent his image.

    He said he could not plan evil against his subject and confirmed that there was an issue between the deceased and the community.

    Police Commissioner Haliru Gwandu, who confirmed the incident, said he drafted men to the area immediately he received a signal.

    He said the issue was between the deceased and the monarch.

     

  • Herdsmen Kill 21 Villagers in Niger

    Herdsmen Kill 21 Villagers in Niger

    Gunmen suspected to be herdsmen on Sunday lunched an early morning attack on a community mosque in Etogi community, Gbara ward, in Mokwa local government area of Niger state killing 21 villagers, including the Imam of the Mosque.

    The attack occurred when the villagers were observing their early morning prayers on Sunday. some women and children sustained various degrees of injuries.

    The Nation learnt that the attack was as a result of an earlier disagreement between some Fulani youths and members of the affected community which resulted in the death of herder.

    The disagreement was due to the failure of a herder to remit the percentage of the proceed of the land given to them by the villagers which was meant to be paid to the village head. The herders maintained that the land is theirs.

    According to a witness, the attackers killed everyone in the mosque including the Imam.

    The Niger state Police Command confirmed that the attack was a reprisal for the death of a herdsman who died as à result of the disagreement between the villagers and the herdsmen.

    The State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bala Elkana who said 20 people were killed explained that the killing of a herder was managed,” but it appears they were not satisfied and decided to retaliate.”

    He said eight people who sustained various degrees of injuries due to the commotion that occured during the attack are currently recuperating in a nearby hospital.

    He said that there is peace in the community as mobile policemen have been deployed to ensure that there is no more trouble from any of the affected parties.

  • 2012 flood: Displaced villagers still live in public buildings in Edo

    Four years after the 2012 flood in Edo State, many displaced persons are still staying in public buildings in the affected local government areas, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    Five villages – Daba, Anegbette, Oghomere, Udochi and Ukepeko – all in Etsako Central Local Government Area, were displaced by the flood.

    Also, homes and food crops worth millions of naira were destroyed, forcing the residents to relocate to public buildings.

    Although some have moved out of the camps, many who had no option are still at the temporary camps.

    To relocate such villagers and provide shelter to victims of similar disasters in the future, the Federal Government built a resettlement camp at Oghomere-Ekperi.

    The Coordinator of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Mr Edward Osigbeme, told NAN in Benin, the state capital, that the camp would be completed soon.

    He said the project had reached 90 per cent completion level, adding: “The project will be handed over to the state government in the next few weeks.”

    Osigbeme said some of the facilities at the camp include single rooms, one bedroom apartments, open dormitory, boreholes, stores, relaxation centres and security post.

    The site engineer Lucky Iyamah said the camp had reached 90 per cent completion level.

    Iyamah said: “The camp is almost completed. What is left is not much. The camp will be ready in the next few months.”

    The Egiegbai of Ekperi, Chief Deke Kanoba, who hailed the Federal Government for the project, urged the affected persons to be patient.

    He said the Federal Government was working hard to complete the project.

  • 56 villagers killed in Boko Haram attack

    56 villagers killed in Boko Haram attack

    Fifty-six persons were killed at the weekend at Badu village in Nganzai Local Government Area of Borno State by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members.

    Badu is located 68km from Maiduguri, the capital. The residents are farmers and herdsmen.

    Governor Kashim Shettima announced the attack on Saturday when he hosted the parents of the abducted Chibok girls in Maiduguri.

    He said: “As President Muhammadu Buhari directed me to address you on the abduction of your daughters in April last year by Boko Haram, the security agencies hurriedly briefed me on another insurgents’ attack at Badu village, where 56 people were killed. Houses were torched. This is madness. The President asked me to commiserate with everyone of you. He said you should be patient.

    “This Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast is not based on either religion or ethnicity. It is a total madness of massive killings and destruction of people’s property.

    “I have set up an emergency committee to go to the village tomorrow (Sunday) to give relief assistance to the affected people.”

    A military source said: “One of the villages in Borno north was attacked by the insurgents while fleeing the Lake Chad Basin areas at the weekend.”

  • Boko Haram kill 13 villagers in Borno

    Boko Haram kill 13 villagers in Borno

    No fewer than 13 villagers were killed by suspected Boko Haram members in Malari Village in Konduga Local Government of Borno State.
    The village which is located along Bama road came under attack in the early hours of Sunday by members of the Boko Haram according to eyewitness.
    The gunmen in convoy of about 11 Toyota Hilux vehicles and motorcycles laden with explosives and petrol-bombs invaded the village killing 13 people. They also burnt several houses and set ablaze many shops and kiosks in the early hours of Sunday, according to one Shettima Bulama who escaped to maiduguri.
    Shettima narrated;
    “Yesterday’s attack on our village was terrifying and shocking. We are surprised how they were able to overcome the soldiers patrolling this road on an hourly basis without being killed by these insurgents.
    It was devastating because many of my neighbors had to flee into nearby bushes and farmlands, before escaping to Maiduguri. Many people were killed and houses burnt with shops,” he explained.
    He hinted that the insurgents attacked the village, because of the alleged information being given to soldiers and police by the villagers on their operations and their hideout in the forest.
    He said no religion condones the killing of innocent people; stating that the insurgents are after the continuous perpetration of terrorists activities in Borno state.
    Security sources have also confirmed the incident but there is no confirmation of the casualty figure.

  • Villagers protest as truck kills student

    Residents of Agan toll gate, a Makurdi suburb located on the Makurdi-Lafia Highway yesterday protested after a truck driver knocked down and killed a 24-year-old student,

    who lived in the community.

    A source said the driver abandoned the vehicle

    after the accident and fled into the bush.

    The villagers reportedly mobilised and blocked the highway, preventing vehicles from passing through the road, which links the North with the Eastern part of the country.

    There was a traffic gridlock. Street urchins capitalised on the situation to extort money from travellers.

    Police later dispersed the protesters and restored peace.