Govt consoles familiesTHE grim import of the murder of 10
Ibadan traders by the Boko Haram sect
was felt yesterday in the Oyo State
capital.
Women were crying as the bodies were
offloaded from a truck. Men were shaking
their heads in deep dejection as the
caskets were lined up in a row at the
Bodija market.
The traders, who were beans sellers, went
to Borno State — the heart of the sect’s
insurgency— to buy beans for sale in
Ibadan when they ran into an ambush by
the deadly sect members. They were
killed in a most gruesome manner.
A survivor of the attack, Taoheed
Adewuyi, 32, recounted the chilling
moments of the attack, in the early hours
of Friday in Munguno, Borno State. They
left Ibadan on Thursday.
He said: “God saved me from the attack.
They stopped us along the way and asked
us to come down from the vehicle and lie
down. They thereafter started shooting
us one after the other as we lay on the
ground. I was the third on the row. I was
shot but the bullet did not hit me very
well. I was gone. It was after an hour
that I discovered that I was still alive.”
Asked how he was so sure that the
attackers were Boko Haram members, he
said: “When they discovered that one of
the victims was still breathing, one of the
attackers went into their car pulled a knife
with which he ‘slaughtered’ him. I almost
cried out at that time but I could not do
so. Our man who was slaughtered was
Ninalowo (a.k.a AY).
“I’m sure they were Boko Haram
members”.
The bodies were received at the Ibadan/
Egbeda toll gate, amidst tight security, by
a delegation of over 1000 traders and
sympathisers, led by the Babaloja of Oyo
State, Chief Dauda Adisa Oladapo. The
dead are: Seye Adegboyega, Jelili
Popoola, Ojo Mosobalaje, Fatai Kareem
and Femi Oyetunde.
The other are: Ninalowo Saheed, Saburu
Lanlehin , Lekan Oladokun, Sola Adeoye
and Nurudeen Lawal.
Bodija Market Union spokesman, Akeem
Emiola gave the list of the victims.
Security was tight as the bodies were
brought into the ancient city at about
3.30pm in two white Fiat buses marked
Lagos GGE 96 XD and Abuja AA317 RBC.
Security was tight at the scene. There
were 12 police patrol vans, one Armoured
Personnel Carrier (APC) and police trucks
were deployed to forestall crisis.
It was gathered that majority of the
victims were mainly apprentices in the
business.
Two of the traders, Ibrahim Ademola and
Taoheed Azeez Adewuyi, escaped
narrowly.
Emiola said he could not confirm that 25
people were killed as being speculated in
some quarters. “We cannot confirm that.
What we know is that 10 of our people
were killed; may be it’s true that 25
people were killed, we don’t know.”
As the brown caskets were being brought
out of the vehicles, the traders, families
and sympathisers who had waited hours
wept uncontrollably. They lamented the
havoc Boko Haram had created for the
family of the victims.
Four other traders were allegedly killed
by the sect on May 5.
Shops and stalls were firmly shut at the
market yesterday.
The market and its environs wore a
gloomy mood.
Oladapo urged the Federal Government,
which has declared a state of emergency
in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa, to take
drastic measures against the Boko Haram
insurgency.
“Is it after they have killed all of us that
the government will act? Many of us have
been killed,” he lamented.
Oladapo said the death of the traders
would lead to scarcity of beans in the
market, adding that most of the traders
are no longer willing to travel to the
North.
At the scene, Oyo State Commissioner for
Trade and Investment Mr Adebayo
Olagbenro Kareem said: condemned the
killings, saying the government would
address the crisis.
He prayed for the repose of the deceased
and urged their families to take it as the
will of God.
Fatai Kareem, a brother to one of the
victims, said they were calling his younger
brother’s phone number but he did not
pick it up while on the trip. Unknown to
them, he had been killed.
“ Our mother died just last year and we
are still mourning her. Now it is our
brother. He was the youngest of the six
children of our parents. We cannot tell
the members of our family about his
death because it is going to be very
devastating.
“I did not know that the day he was
traveling to buy beans will be the last day
I would see him. Boko Haram men have
done their worst and I know God will
judge them accordingly.”
Abiala Emmanuel, a friend to one of the
victims, said the late Sola Adeoye was
preparing for his brother’s marriage next
week.
“We were friends for over three years. He
was a cool person who could not hurt a
fly. He was kind and generous towards
his parents. I learnt they used matchette
to cut him and that his body was not
found,” Emmanuel said.
Emmanuel, who was wailing, recalled that
it was the second time the deadly sect
has killed traders from the market.
The head of the Hausa community in
Bodija market Alhaji Isiyaka Hassan, called
on the government to provide adequate
security in the community.
The Hausa community in the market also
gathered to mourn the slain traders.
The Sarkin Hausawa, who spoke in Yoruba,
said what happened to the traders was
disheartening.
He said: “It is disturbing because it is
beyond our powers and disheartening
because of the innocent souls that were
killed without any just cause.”
He called for adequate security in the
market for fear of reprisal from angry
traders against Northerners.
Hassan prayed God to rescue Nigerian
from the hands of evil men who kill under
the guise of religion.
He recalled that the traders in the
popular Bodija were brothers and sisters,
who have been living in peaceful for
decades, irrespective of tribe or religion.
“We are brothers and sisters here without
any quarrel. We share things together and
we don’t have any cause to disagree. It is
the evil people who are planning to a
division among us, but Isha Allah they
shall not succeed “, Hassan said.
Those in the neighbourhood expressed
fear that the traders could become
violent.
A banker, who simply gave her name as
Tonia, said: “We expect the security
agencies to be on standby to curtail
violent reaction from the traders who are
in a tense mood because of the tragic
news.”
A woman trader, Mrs. Titi Odejayi, urged
the government to ensure protection of
lives and property.
She said: “We warned our people to stop
going to the place (North) until peace is
restored. How can you risk being killed
because of means of survival?
“The government should seek a lasting
solution to the issue of Boko Haram.”
Another trader, Mutiu Jamiu, who linked
the surge in food stuff to insecurity in the
North, said: “The situation in the North
demands urgent attention before it
spreads to other parts. Already, we are
experiencing the pain of the trouble.”
Source: nation news
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