A community leader has called on the National Emergency management Agency and Kogi State Emergency Management Agency to assist displaced persons of Agojeju-Odo and Abejukolo communities in the Omala Local Government Area with relief materials.

The spokesman for Agojeju-Odo Community, Thomas Acheneje, made the call while speaking in Lokoja on Thursday.

Agojeju-Odo and Abejukolo communities in Omala LGA of Kogi , were on April 4 attacked by bandits, leaving 25 dead and several others injured.

The bandits sacked the entire inhabitants of the communities and are now taking refuge in neighbouring communities.

Mr Acheneje said that since that April 4, the Internally Displaced Persons have been encountering untold hardships due to lack of food, drinking water and conducive places to stay.

He said, “Our people are living in terrible conditions.  This is why as a community leader I am pleading with NEMA and SEMA to consider it necessary and expedient to take some relief materials to them. Most of these IDPs are taking refuge in primary schools, mosques and churches with little or nothing to cater for themselves. The painful thing is that the bandits stoke food stuffs including maize, yams, cassava and beans.’’

The community leader expressed worry over the likely disease outbreak in some of the crowded IDP camps and the houses of relatives and friends they are camping with.

He added, “As members of the affected communities, we have been trying our best to assist our people, but the situation has overwhelmed us.”

Mr Acheneje commended Governor Usman Ododo’s proclamation on Wednesday that some suspected bandits had been arrested.

Calling for more arrests, he also sought the establishment of a military base at Agojeju-Odo, a border community between Benue and Kogi states to checkmate the incessant attacks in the area.

Responding, the state Commissioner for Environment, Segun Joseph, said that the government had planned to send relief materials through SEMA to the affected communities in the Omala LGA.

“We are aware of the plight of the displaced persons in Agojeju-Odo and Abejukolo communities and will, by God’s grace, reach out to them by Friday with some relief materials.

“Governor Usman Ododo’s administration is a caring one and won’t abandon its citizens for no just cause,” Mr Joseph assured. 

(NAN)