The governor of Abia state, Okezie Ikpeazu, has promised to pay N2 million each as compensation to the families of cattle traders who were killed at the new cattle market in the Omumauzor community of Ukwa West LGA in Abia on February 15.
On Monday, the Abia state government sent a delegation, which was led by Kalu Ogbu, the monarch of Abiriba kingdom, to condole with the families of the deceased in Gombe State, as seven of the victims were said to be indigenes of Gombe.
The acting President, Cattle Dealers Association of Nigeria, Yahuza Yusuf, who spoke during the meeting, said Ikpeazu has paid N150,000 per head of the cattle lost and also promise to pay N2 million as compensation to the families of the deceased traders.
According to Yusuf, no government from the southern part of the country had shown sympathy to the body like the Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu.
Yusuf said,
“We asked him (Ikpeazu) to pay for our damages and he said he couldn’t pay for all our damages, but he gave us N150,000 as the worth of each cow and he promised to support the affected families to survive and additional N2m to the families, but that has yet to be paid,”.
He also revealed that the association went to Abia State to bring back surviving members, but Ikpeazu objected to the decision.
“The governor said the people were under his care; he gave us good attention and we stayed with him for more than three hours. That is the only governor who did that to us since all these things happened in the South,” Yusuf added.
The representative of the governor and paramount ruler of Abriba, Kalu Ogbu, expressed sadness over the killings.
“I’m here to extend our sympathy and condolences to the people and the government of Abia State. The incident is sad and I don’t know how to explain it. There is no word to explain what happened as it was the handiwork of misguided fellows. He said.
“Thank God that our governor has taken up the responsibility to make sure that those behind it are caught to face the full wrath of the law.”
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