Ondo Terror Attack, Must Not Be Ignored, Say Edo Professionals Renaissance

Ondo Terror Attack, Must Not Be Ignored, Say Edo Professionals Renaissance

UNUEDO Renaissance, comprising professionals from across Edo State in Nigeria and the Diaspora, yesterday  condemned in its entirety the attack on Sunday, June 5, 2022 on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, killing over 50 parishioners, with several others severely injured.

In a statement, the President of UNUEDO Renaissance, Nuhu Yakubu, said: “The terror attacks starting with the one on Owo, Ondo State, the headquarters of Amotekun, and its main propounder Gov. Akeredolu, is a clear statement that cannot be ignored,” he stressed.

He wondered whether the Ondo attack at the same time the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria hosted an international conference in Nigeria with delegates drawn from 19 African counties, calling for restoration of grazing reserves, and for same to be gazetted, as reported, was a mere coincidence.

According to him, “how is it they would gather with foreigners to demand grazing reserves in Nigeria, at a time such as this when they know the issue of grazing reserves is a vexed problem?

“How is it that the same FG would even permit such an event in Nigeria at this time, and the news of their demand wasn’t censored, when we are already overwhelmed by the Fulani herders’ threats and daily attacks?”

Sunday’s attack, he noted, happened the same weekend when unconfirmed reports said a community in Kogi State was sacked with scores of persons killed, just as residents of Gwarimpa Estate in Abuja, the Federal Capital, woke up to the news of terror attacks and mass kidnapping.

Yakubu also wondered how the country’s “political leaders, particularly those currently horse-trading in Abuja, and all well-meaning leaders over the country cannot connect the dots, and openly call Nigeria’s Presidency to question, and issue an ultimatum.

UNUEDO, he continued, “calls on the Edo State Government to reassure residents across the state of its security plans ahead of any such attack considering the state’s experience with similar attacks in the recent past.

“UNUEDO calls on all 36 state governments in Nigeria, and particularly the South-South geo-political zone to reaffirm their commitments to work collectively, irrespective of partisan leanings for improved coordination and funding for effective community policing.”

It is time, Yakubu continued, for us as “well-meaning citizens to all lend our voices and call on our leaders to stop playing politics with the lives of citizens, thereby allowing the states to be overwhelmed by forces of darkness.