Black Day in Ogaminana

Ismail M. Kabir,
Reporting from Lokoja.

With Shaky hands, I tried to take snapshots of the ghostly sight of Ogaminana. The town was aglow with commercial and social activities on my way to Lokoja from Okene, about 20 hours earlier. Along the Idanuhua road, I saw two long vehicles laden with Iron ore, parked in the middle of the road. Upon inquiry, I was told they were the hijacked vehicles conveying iron ore from Itakpe Iron ore Minning project. I couldn't get hold of my camera to take the shots, I planned to do so upon my return, but as fate would have it, Ogaminana has worn a horrific look before my return.

In a commando-styled reaction to the loss of one of their colleagues in a gun battle between the police and Ebira youths following the hijack of GIHL trucks conveying Iron ore from Itakpe to Warri, Nigerian Police turned Ogaminana community of Adavi LG, Kogi State into a shadow of itself. About 20 lives were lost, Motor Vehicles numbering about 50 were burnt to ashes while more than 70 homes were razed beyond recognition. This is no-less than a state of emergency in the Ogaminana District of Adavi Local Government, Kogi state.

Passing through Ogaminana a day before the police invasion, in the middle of the road around Ihucheba area of Ogaminana, about four trucks, two belonging to Dangote Group, were laiden with Iron ore from Itakpe Iron Ore Minning Company (NIOMCO). Upon inquiry, we gathered that some youths in the area hijacked the vehicles for perceived illegal movement of the raw materials to unknown destination.

Speaking with newsmen on Wednesday at the scene of the destructions, Alhaji Adoke said it is unthinkable that the Police who were to maintain peace could subject the people to such a humongous torture. According to him, ‘the number of burnt houses so far counted is 70. I have submitted report on the number of the deads physically found. We have 5 death reports excluding those killed outside the streets and in hideouts’, he said.

Lamenting the situation, the Caretaker committee Chairman of Adavi Local Government, Mallam Enesi said ‘While at Lokoja with Alhaji Abdul Rahman Badams, the state’s Commissioner for Environment and Physical planning and other Ebira political stalwarts, we hid our faces from the Commisioner of Police as he approached us. He would have ordered our arrest save for the intervention of Ibrahim Idris, the former Govenor of kogi state, whose plea the CP eventually considered, threatening that his men would continue their actions within 24hours if the community didn’t return the police rifle seized by the youths’,. Enesi pleaded with the few Ogaminana youths in our company to rally round the militants for urgent release of the rifle even if it warrants dumping it in distant place where he could recover it for direct delivery to the CP.

On his part, the Commissioner of Environment and physical planning, Alhaji Abdul Rahman Badamasuiy who provided our crew with his vehicle for a better assessment of the damage, said he had been speaking with all the Elders and community leaders in Adavi and relaying their plea to the state government for urgent withdrawal of Police from the area.

It could be recalled that the report of the Mallam Magaji Inua-led committee, which iscoming out nearly three months after it was originally billed to be submitted six weeks from the day of the committee's inauguration, spells doom for the Indian company.Part of the report, which agreed that the agreement was not in the over-all interests of thecountry, reads: "An overview of the agreement reveals that the covenants were largely skewed in favour of the Concessionaire (GIHL) to the detriment of the government. The panel viewed the conditionality of submission of Business Development Plan five months after assuming full management and control of the company as not to the best interest of the nation as this gave room for complacency. Three years after assuming full control, no workable BusinessPlan has been submitted to the FGN by the Concessionaire".

The extent of damage done so far is estimated at several millions of Naira while hundreds of people have been rendered homeless. As the community mourns the police tragedy that befell the community, various reactions from Ebira youths indicate that Ohinoyi of Ebira land, HRM, Alahaji (Dr.) Ado Ibrahim is acquainted of the situation.

According to a youth who pleaded annonimity, the Ohinoyi once ordered the seizure of a truck conveying the Iron ore through Ogaminana and withheld in his palace. A report later came from Minning minister confirming the legality of the transaction with the Indian company. I believe that this was an eye-opener to the youths who saw a money-making opportunity. You will recall that these trucks have been held for about 5 days and no meaningful action was taken by the community until this mayhem. It is pathetic’, he lamented.

Others reported Adavi LG caretaker committee Chairman, Mallam Enesi of approaching the ‘boys’ and offering them a handsome compensation to allow the release of the trucks, yet his effort was in vain as the youths were deaf to the pleas.

The current situation in Ogaminana has put the community at the mercy of the federal government considering the damage and humiliation suffered by the unsuspecting people. Residents have fled to neghbouring communities of Obangede, Eika, Kuroko and Lokoja, the state capital.