February 22, (THEWILL) – Hon. Onyebuchi Ogbadu is the Executive Chairman of Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi state. In this interview in Abakaliki with Ogbu Sunday, he speaks on the preparedness of the council in 2022 farming season and traditional penalty that awaits the perpetrators of violence that erupted in Akaeze which led to killings and destruction of properties worth billions of naira recently. Excerpts:
What are your plans to boost farming activities in your council area as the farming season is fast approaching?
You know in 2020 and 2021, there was flood disasters that ravaged people’s farms and you know farmers in this area are mostly the rural dwellers and are peasant farmers. You know the type of governor we have; somebody that has special love for his people. He took the statistics of the people and the farm areas, the local governments that were affected and communicated with NEMA.
NEMA people told us to come and carry yam seedlings. They told us they have provisions for 90 farmers of Ivo local government area and we have already put them in bags-100 bags. So, they asked us to go and get the 90 recipients. Councilors are the ones handling it because they are the real representatives of the people.
So, I asked them to share that 90 to the eleven wards in the local government and get the real farmers. So, it is not for big men, it is for the rural dwellers and they are happy. We got the best from all the wards equally.
What mechanism have you put in place to check the judicious use of these farm inputs given to farmers in your area?
Our jobs as leaders in the grassroots is to appeal to them to make judicious use of the relief materials. It is the same way we talked to them when rice seedlings came, the one we call Dave now, special rice. People didn’t believe it will even outweigh the ones they are having, but today those ones that sold their own later went and bought from people that did not sell to replant to replace the breed they had. So, I think our people have learnt their lessons from that rice paddy they distributed in 2016/2017.
So, I did not believe anybody from Ivo with the experience we had with the rice will go and sell this yam seedlings because for government to say this is the best you can do, we are already aware that people will go and sell. If they sell, they will regret it and we appeal to them, go and plant so that others will get from them next year.
Governor Dave Umahi recently suspended indefinitely the state SEMA secretary over expired relief materials. Did you check whether the yam seedlings are still good?
You see, the basic thing I have learned from administration is that no government hates its citizens. So, I know that the government of Ebonyi state and the governor will not give our people expired seedlings. And here, you have said it all, he is suspended, somebody who did it. So, I think he must have learnt his lessons and that’s why we didn’t waste time in distributing it. it came in the night and we distributed it in the morning the following day so that they will not say we kept it and it expired.
We are almost in farming season. What is the preparedness of your local government to ensure successful season?
Yes, as at last year, we hosted people from Abuja that came and gave us okro seedlings for Ivo, the only local government they chose and they are happy with us. Now, yam seedlings have come. So, what we will do is to make sure that we give them fertilizer which we have been doing, we give them fertilizer that will benefit them.
What is the security situation in Ivo local government after the violent protest in which valuable properties were burnt by protesters?
Normalcy has returned and that is what the governor wants and that is why he said we should go and maintain peace. There is absolute peace because everybody has done what he wants to do and seen that you don’t remove a sitting government by force irrespective of what has happened. There are procedures.
Is there any penalty that has been meted out against the perpetrators of the violent protest?
The elders are on it and you know in Akaeze tradition, it is the people that give penalties, we say ometara vuru!! You know yourself, you know what you have done against the land. It is just the libations. They will pour at the traditional centre, if you agree or if you don’t agree, you will pay for it. It is a law of karma in practice , they don’t force anybody to take any penalty. It is the government that gives penalty at all cost. Our tradition is for the elders, after this they are doing now, four market days they will ask questions. Is it you that did this and your people will also ask you. It is you that know what you have done, the community will not just come and say they said you did this and quietly, you obey the law of the land and in my place, there are guidelines.
You are one of the victims of that violent protest in your area. What and what did you lose?
It is an open issue, you can go and see. Go and see, visit and see. Your colleagues have come without my knowledge. You can go and see, it is like publicizing evil. It is when you get first hand information, you will be able to know what has happened. This is two weeks now that the incident happened.
There have been rumours that elders of your community are planning to banish you over the violent protest, is it true?
I am a soil of the soil and I know the tradition and nobody communicates that to anybody. It is not in our tradition. So, leave rumour mongers. I am part of the people that are strong but they cannot take over this local government. They are not God because if you know what happened, in my own analysis, it is not because Ebubeagu did this, Ebubaegu did that.
Our finding is that they are drug peddlers that Ebubeagu have chased away from the village for the past two, three months but, they re-surfaced doing all these things. You find out that it was sponsored based on what happened. They were looking for opportunities to get rid of people like me and thank God I am alive. So, if there is any other thing those ones are another gimmick. They will still fail. No weapon fashioned against the just will rise and prosper but the most important thing is ometara vuru because false allegation is part of it and it is part of the ten commandments of God against your neighbors.
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