Murdered Ikechukwu Ukeoma, a corper
A text message circulating among members of the, National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, and made available to Elombah.com reads: ?k Ukeoma was a Corper in Bauchi until monday when he paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect our democracy. he ran to a police station when he was being chased now he has been confirmed dead!!!His fellow corpers sent this:
FELLOW CORPERS, we have been killed/butchered like suya?meat, maimed all cos of the elections, nobody is saying anything about it! Another election is coming up on Tuesday (26th april), they would still want to use US without still saying anything, and some of us r still stranded in the north, maybe this time they will SLAUGHTER THEM ALL if we don't do something. We urge every CORPER to BOYCOTT tuesday (26th april) Elections!?
Ukeoma is the murdered National Youth Service Corp, NYSC member in Bauchi. He was killed because on the day of the Presidential Election he prevented some under-age registered "voters" from voting and that attracted the ire of some adult voters in the polling unit. Some CPC adults demanded he hand over the unused ballot papers to them but he refused. He was almost lynched but for the prompt intervention of the Policemen attached to his polling centre who escorted him to the INEC office. He then became a target for attack.
He was later Killed in a Bauchi police station where he was taking refuge with other youth corpers while serving his country.
Elombah.com learnt that members of the NYSC are fleeing crisis-prone local government areas in some states in the north six days to the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections.
Many of the corps members, especially in Katsina and Bauchi states, are taking refuge in army barracks and the NYSC orientation camps while some have travelled out of states like Kano, Borno and Kaduna and back to their home states or Abuja out of fear that they were no longer safe in Northern Nigeria.?
A youth corper who fled Nassarawa state told elombah.com he is not going back. ?Another said he only escaped death "by whiskers".
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Another text message in circulation says: "DO NOT LEAVE... YOUR HOUSES,No more CDS or Meetings! until FG removes every SINGLE CORPER(dead or alive)from the NORTH and reform NYSC. Don't think cos u r not there,those r our brothers/sisters/friends/children out there....they(FG)Have from Now till monday to do that! PARENTS and kind hearted NIGERIANS Pls SUPPORT/ENDORSE this COURSE. Pls RE-BROADCAST, paste on Facebook, send as sms,tweet it till FG gets the message! what we sign to was "UNDER THE SUN AND IN THE RAIN" not in "TEARS AND BLOOD & MUTILATED BODIES" tell every corper u know to stay back and remain at home!!!!"
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The Bauchi state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Amana Abakasanga, had confirmed the death of 4 corps members and added that 26 out of 51 corps members posted to Jammare, Giade, Misau, Azare, Dambam and Itas Gadu areas were rescued by the police and another 20 still missing.
But some of the corps members said at least 11 of their colleagues had so far been murdered in the crisis.?
One of them said they had ?decided not to take part in the election again since the government cannot protect us.??
He also claimed that they had not been paid the money promised them by INEC.
The fate of the ?missing? corps members was still unknown.
In Katsina State, for instance, traumatised corps members have deserted Daura, the hometown of the Congress for Progressive Change presidential candidate, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, and other crisis-prone towns such as Funtua, Kankari, Jibia and Malumfashipita.?
It was learnt that armed security agents escorted seven commercial buses that conveyed the corps members from Daura to the state NYSC orientation camp in Katsina.
The corps members who had spent three nights at the Daura police station were said to have contributed N150 each for the trip.?
Violent protesters had set the ?corpers lodge? known as Danbuka Local Education Authority Lodge, in Daura ablaze on Sunday in the orgy of violence that gripped the state after the poll.?
Meanwhile Punch Newspaper reports that that their correspondents, who visited the NYSC orientation camp in Katsina observed that there were over 500 corps members there. More reportedly arrived the camp from different parts of the state after our correspondent left at about 4pm on Thursday.?
Corps members, who acted as presiding officers in the presidential elections, were mostly the target of attacks in many communities in the North.
One of them, who gave his name simply as Ikenna, said he lost everything he had.?
?We cannot go back to that place (Daura). We cannot risk our lives because of the N7,000 that INEC will pay us.? Ikenna said.?
Another corps member added that but for a friendly taxi driver, who alerted them, they would have been burnt alive.?
?He (taxi driver) started shouting in front of our lodge that ?they (rioters) are coming, they are coming,? but we didn?t know what he was talking about until they nearly got to us,? he said, declining to give his name.?
In Funtua, another NYSC member, who pleaded anonymity, said he saw the charred remains of a neighbour who shared a building with him after the house had been burnt by the rioters.?
He said that he managed to flee and vowed never to go back to Funtua.?
?I just want to go back home. All my credentials are gone. As it is, the only property I have is my mobile phone,? he lamented.
The story was the same from the other corps members from Malumfashi, Kankara and Jibia.?
Anjolaoluwa, a female corps members from Oyo State, said she might never recover from the trauma.?
Amidst tears, she told one of our correspondents how rampaging youths attached their residence in Funtua and burnt down the place.?
?Many of them just came and started beating us. We had to jump over the fence and ran to the main road. I lost everything, including my certificates and laptop,? she said.?
PUNCH said the state Coordinator of the NYSC, Mallam Abdul Taura, who declined to respond to inquiries was at the orientation camp on Thursday afternoon to address the corps members.?
Taura told them that they were safe as security was guaranteed at the camp.?
In Bauchi State, corps members also deserted the troubled areas in the state for fear of further attacks by irate youths.?
This came just as Governor Isah Yuguda assured them of adequate security in the state. He also relocated over 150 of them to the State Security Service Training School for safety.?
The premises of the state secretariat of the NYSC is deserted except for a few workers who were going about their official duties.?
One of the workers, said, ?Today (Thursday) is supposed to be their CDS (Community Development Service) day but as you can see, none of them is around. Since it is no longer safe for them to move around, it is better they stay where they will be safe.??
Scary text message in circulation has no helped matters
this text message is in circulation also shown to Elombah.com reporter says:
?To all muslims; we must reclaim kaduna; install a muslim Governor in taraba; plant a dep gov in Benue; install a woman as governor (which is harram but she's a necessary weapon of change) in plateau. We must capture central Nigeria. Council of ulama, northern Nigeria. Pls cirulate it to ur pple?.
Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda had in a statement assured the corps members of the determination of his administration to protect their lives and property.?
The governor, who pleaded with the corps members to be calm, also condoled with the NYSC and the parents of those that were killed in Kano Staste. The NYSC members are currently taking refuge in army barracks in Bompai and Horoto police barracks.
At NYSC headquarters in Maitama, Abuja, the members of staff were mourning.?
Most them, who clustered in and around the lobby of the building were overheard discussing the deaths of some of the NYSC members in hushed tunes.?
Reports say hoodlums protesting the defeat of Buhari in the April 16 Presidential election killed 200 people in six northern states.?
When contacted on the threat by some corps members to boycott the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections scheduled for Tuesday, the NYSC Deputy Director (Public Relations), Mrs. Chynwe Ojukwu, said the issues involved revolved around policy.
?The Director-General (Maj.-Gen. Ismaila Tsiga) has travelled to Bauchi to assess the situation. When he comes back and is ready to make any pronouncement, we will let you know.??
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Elombah.com was shown a letter from ?a Nigerian sister who happens to be a devout muslim? pouring out her grief and anger over the political killings of the corpers.
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She wrote:
"Bismillahi rahmanir rahim, Almighty Allah, we remain at your mercy, we seek your favour, we seek your forgiveness, your guidance, your support and your love, we cast ourselves unto you and rely upon you to guide us right.
On this day, tens of thousands if not hundreds lie dead and buried in a short flurry of just a few months, so many things have touched the innermost part of us all and tested our faith. This week, in Nigeria, as we all sat in our homes in various countries worldwide celebrating the much publicised Nigerian presidential elections and the reports by world observers that we had seen the freest and fairest election in Nigerian history, others were sitting, plotting and setting up strategy on how to kill, slaughter, destroy and loot randomly in fits of rage. What makes me angry, saddened, shocked, bewildered, bereft with worry and grief is the fact that attackers turned on defenceless young people who were posted to the various regions of the country as youth corpers. So is it okay for people angry that their obsessive following had not resulted in a win, crazed by poverty, hunger, ignorance and deprivation, no it isn't and again as always, if anyone thinks I am disloyal for disassociating myself from these people who are described as muslim, please delete me.
"I am so unhappy today, inalilahi wa inalilahi rajiun, another readying for mass burying in Nigeria again.....these people families trusted them into the government hands, donated their skill to deprived and poor parts of the country...... There is no room within my heart for revenge, fire or hate there is no room within my mind for any thoughts like these.
I cannot find the words to say just how it is I feel but I know from deepest hurt I must forgiveness find. The hurt that?s been done to us cuts sore like a knife, but we must not, repay in kind what has been done to us. Instead we must try and find the way that is so hard, and reach out our loving hands to find some friendship now. There can be no more healing thing than opening wide our eyes and seeing that most other folk are really just like us. By David Gould whose daughter was slain in in the London Bombings of 2005 and it spells out the persistent message we need to spread and continue to propagate.
"Ya Allah, there is not a man who is without any worry, any concern and we pray we continue to be blessed with continued favour, grace, blessings, prosperity and peace. These are tring imes............Allah shall see us through. Refl: Noble Qu'ran 5:27-32, 17:66 , 31:33-34, 45:12-15, 17:36-38 26:180-184 Barka Jumaat, Jumaat Mubarak, Allah hafiz"?
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