By Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
A middle aged man, Daddy Noah was last week abucted from his village , Patanyi , a river rine village in Bagana ward of Omala Local Government Area of Kogi state, beheaded him and threw the corpse into River Benue in Kogi state.
The incident was said to have occurred when Daddy, a youth leader in company of four friends went on hunting expedition, when the gunmen based on information stormed the forest and abducted him while his other friends escaped by the whiskers.
The deceased according to locals was one of the belligerents defending his clan, Ihiankpe against the onslaught of the Otututubatu clan, who have been up in arms against each other over the control of Bagana community in Omala LGA.
Our reporter gathered that the crises which started off as Fulani herders and Agatu in Benue state snowballed into ethnic and clans cleansing which started over a decade ago.
According to another eye witness account, Daddy as he was fondly called met his Waterloo on the fateful day, when the suspected bandits numbering over twenty stormed the sleepy town of Patanyi shooting sporadically, as the villagers ran helter skelter to save their lives and in the process , Daddy was abducted and taken to unknown destination.
The eyewitness added that , Daddy was subjected to all manner of Ill treatment before he was beheaded and the corpse thrown into River Benue at Bagana.
Recounting the ordeal to our reporter, a man who did not want his name in print in order not to be traced by the suspected militia , said , on Wednesday afternoon 17/5/2023, when the villagers were returning from farms , they were taken by surprise with staccato of gun shots from different directions, as people scampered to safety , however, Daddy Noah was unlucky as he was cut up by the militia .
” The militia came through, Bagana and Ogba route before arriving at Patanyi to carry out the dastard act. The villagers then mobilised themselves into a search party who later discovered the mutilated corpse floating at the bank of River Benue at Bagana, the epicenter of the lingering communal war that has taken the lives of tens of hundreds of lives and burning down of properties.
” It was a gory sight to behold , as his head was chopped off, his hands and legs were equally cut to smithereens. Lamentably the deceased had lost his father, Noah Akoja ,his senior brother, an uncle ,Alih to the crisis, even as their family houses in Bagana were burnt to rubbles .
* As I’m talking to you, no member of Ihiankpe clan is having his or her house standing in Bagana. They have all been burnt down by the suspected militias allegedly helping the Otututubatu clan to prosecute the war.
” This latest onslaught against our clan is coming on the heels of the final phase of the fact finding engagement with the communities, by the peace committee set up by His Royal Majesty Ata’Igala Matthew Opaluwa Oguche-Akpa. This killing has taken us back in the peace building process” He recounted the ordeal amid wailing.
Recall that Bagana, a commercial nerve centre of Omala LGA and 15km north of Abejukolo, headquarters of the council, has been engrossed in carnage since 2013, and all efforts by the state government to restore normalcy proved abortive.
When contacted , the paramount ruler of Omala LGA, HRH Boniface Musa, the Ojogba of Ife condemned the killing , saying it was one too many for the people of the communities.
He called on the state , Federal Governments and security agencies to come to his aid to permanently end the crisis
The Royal father while lamenting the socio economic hardship the crisis has posed on Bagana communities, said it has become unbearable for the entire local Government Area to bear the burden of internally Displaced Persons who had fled from their homes.
At the time of filling this report, the police public relations officer SP William Aya could not pick his calls and several text messages Gunmen behead youth leader throws corpse into River in Kogi.