10072020 - Day 4: Panel grills ‘Magu's 7 Untouchables’

21–Vanguard, FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2020
MAKURDI BOAT MISHAP:
Nobody told us our children would be ferried
across River Benue — mothers of victims lament
•as police recovers 14 corpses
Stories by Peter Duru,
Makurdi
MOTHER of the nineyear-old
Mary Adegizi
who died in the recent boat
mishap that claimed 26 lives in
River Benue, Mrs. Detini
Adegizi, has lamented that she
was not told that her daughter
would be ferried across the river
for the church programme.
Also Mrs. Ruth Bulus, a
mother who lost two children,
15 years old Rejoice and 14
years old Miracles, in the
disaster, claimed she was not
informed that her children
would be taken across the River
for the meeting.
The victims were said to be
children and wards of Mobile
Police personnel of the MOPOL
13 in Makurdi and were
members of the youth wing of
Evangelical Church Winning
All, ECWA, Adeke Makurdi.
Combined
choir service
They were crossing the river
from Agbor, Innyongu area of
Wadata to a village in an island
opposite Kwaghter called Ole-
Gabu for an annual church
retreat for youths’ and children
known as (New Life for All)
Sabo Rai in Hausa parlance,
when the boat which they were
travelling in capsized
midstream due to overloading.
Speaking separately to Arewa
Voice on her ordeal, Mrs. Detini
Adegizi, mother of nine years
old Mary said the deceased was
the third of her four children.
“She was a primary four pupil
and my only daughter. They
were going for a combined choir
service to sing songs. But
nobody told me that they would
be taken across the river. If I had
known that they would be taken
across the river I wouldn’t have
allowed her to be part of it.
They attend the programme
every year; I have never allowed
her to accompany the youths to
that programme because she
was too small to embark on such
a trip across the river.
“This time they told me that it
was to be held at Wadata and
not across the river; that was
•Nine-year-old Mary Adegizi
why I allowed her to accompany
them when she started crying
that she wanted to be part of the
group. That is how I lost my only
daughter in a helpless situation
We do not want to die in IDPs camps, aged Benue IDPs cry
to FG, President Buhari
THERE is no gainsaying
that Benue State has in the
last two and half years been
home to over 480,000 internally
Displaced Persons, IDPs, who
fled their ancestral homes
70-year-old Tyo Kosu
82-year-old Kase
Duwegh
Mrs. Detini Adegizi
in the middle of River Benue. I
believe the operators of the boat
should be called for questioning
on the decision to cram all the
children in the boat instead of
following the herdsmen crisis
that broke out on January 1,
2018.
From that date till now, it has
been tales of woe for the people
who have had to cope with
72-year-old Akombu
Ikyohl
Mrs. Ruth Bulus
taking them across the river
twice,” she added.
On her part, Mrs. Ruth Bulus
who in her passionate
expression of grief said her two
living in IDPs camps in very
difficult conditions and
surviving on handouts from the
state government, public
spirited individuals and
organisations.
The ordeal of the IDPs who are
housed in about 22 official and
unofficial camps located across
the state has continued to
worsen each passing day.
Many people believe that the
severe physical and mental
sufferings of the aged in these
camps calls for urgent
intervention of the Federal
Government. And this it should
do by ensuring the return of
peace in the crisis-ridden
communities so that the IDPs
can return to their ancestral
homes where they would spend
children, Rejoice and Miracle,
who were both JS3 students of
Devine Love Secondary School
would not have been part of the
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the very last part of their years
on earth and their eventual final
resting places.
For majority of them who
spoke to Arewa Voice at the
Daudu and Abagena IDPs
camps both in Guma and the
outskirts of Makurdi local
government areas of the state,
it is only when that is done that
they would reckon that the
Federal Government is serious
with its promise to rebuild their
destroyed homes and also
ensure that armed herders are
stopped from sneaking into
their communities to unleash
mayhem on their families.
For several of the aged IDPs,
most of who are within the ages
of 70 and 90 years, their
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