The Senior Special Adviser to Benue State Governor on Special Duties who is also contesting for Logo Local Government Council Chairmanship, Hon Terna Kester Kyenge was recently in New York, the United States of America where he attended a workshop. He spoke with our United States Bureau Chief, ABIODUN OLUWAROTIMI about Benue politics. He faulted the recent petition that the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) sent to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim.
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?The opposition party recently sent a petition to IGP Hamfiz Ringim against the PDP and some prominent members of the party especially in your local government. Can we have your comments on this?
Yes, we are aware of the petition they sent to the IG of Police, but I want to state clearly that there were lots of technical errors in the petition from the beginning to the end. Mr. Ikyegh Ukula, the ACN Chairman of Logo Local Government where I come from should be made to do further explanation because the contents of the petition are clear indications that the opposition party only sacrificed the late Mr. Celestine Agber in order to soil the PDP-led government in the State. The language Ukula used in the said petition has shown that they knew about the violence. They deliberately planned and caused the mayhem because they knew that Governor Gabriel Suswam would be there and they thought that his Security aides would go into an open clash with the rioters so they could rope him and then allege that he was using his security people to kill the opposition members.
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?There are allegations that the assassins were lodged in Hotel Gabriella?
How could that be possible? They said that they saw the assassins when they were being? taken to one Felicia Iwange and she particularly cooked for them. They claimed in the petition that they also saw the assassins being taken to one Madam Esther Ngusulun Zebo, a special adviser to the local government on Women Affairs and she entertained them with food, meat, beer and gave them money. They? continued in the petition that they were finally lodged at Gabriella Hotel, Ugba, but one funny thing is that these people failed to make any official report to the police. They even lied that the assassins went back to sleep in the same hotel after they had carried out the killing, but I want to state that this is just a white lie because the PDP administration in the State has not been sponsoring assassination, thuggery and riots.
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But the opposition party had alleged that there were series of meetings held in the houses of PDP Chieftains in the area before the killing of the late Mr. Celestine Agber?
That is a lie. They just mentioned over a hundred names in the petition now and these names were not mentioned before while they were making a report after the riot. This simply means that they just wanted to rope some prominent PDP members in the area so as to weaken the strength of the party. They lied that Mr. Celestine Agber’s murder was preceded by series of meetings presided over by the caretaker chairman of Logo Local Government Area, Mr. Donald Iorzer and the district head of Mbayam, Chief TernguIorhuna. They mentioned a meeting? at? Hon. James Iwar’s home at Abeda Mbadyur and another one at Ugba (both in Logo) in Chief TernguIorhuna’s house. They also alleged that there was a PDP welcome reception for the council chairman at Ugba in County Garden presided over by Chief TernguIorhuna where several speeches were angrily made to denounce the political activities of Mr. Agber. They went further? in the petition that the PDP chieftains allegedly used an adage in Tiv which says, “se wa un ikyavshakwagbaaye”, meaning we will send him packing by whatever means, fair or foul.
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I want to clearly state that this is just to incite the people against the ruling party in the state. If their claim was right then why did they fail to make official reports to the police even before the man was killed.
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There was a report that you narrowly escaped from being killed during an attack on the hotel by ACN loyalists. Can we have your story?
Yes. I was lodged in the hotel and the calculation was to kill me during the attack which they claimed they carried out on the suspected assassins. How do you think that assassins would enter into a city in the afternoon, kill someone during the night and still come back to lodge in a hotel where they know they can easily be caught. Back to your question, I narrowly escaped death when the supporters of the ACN? burnt down Hotel Gabriella, where I was lodged. They? inflicted machete cuts on other guests before proceeding to raze down my campaign office, but I was lucky to have been rescued from the surging rioters and driven away in a commercial vehicle by some staff of the hotel.
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Now investigations have commenced and there are excuses and accusations from both parties?
I will implore the IGP to consider all the flaws and technical errors in the petition. The IGP should also invite the Logo Council ACN Chairman who signed the petition for further questioning and this will help the whole world to know that the killing of Mr. Celestine Agber was planned by the opposition party with a calculation to discredit the PDP-led government in Benue State.
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