Owo terror victims get N75m support from Ogun, Lagos, Kwara

Three State Governments, Lagos, Ogun and Kwara have donated N75m to victims of the June 5 terrorists’ attack at St Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Owo local government area of Ondo State. 

The Governors of the states, Prince Dapo Abiodun (Ogun); Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos) and Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq (Kwara) announced the donation when they paid a visit to Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu to commiserate with him on the attack.

Abiodun, who spoke on behalf of the visiting Governors, said the attack was against the entire South-West region.

Abiodun stated that Governors in the region would soon meet to take a position to further consolidate and improve security architecture in the zone.

He said: ”The news of the attack filtered in on the evening of the 5th and it came as a shock to all your brother Governors across the length and breadth of this country, but in particular those of us that come from the South-West zone. We find this attack, not just an attack on the good people of Owo, or the good people of Ondo State but the entire people of the South-West zone.

“Of course, we have met and we have condemned this act which we find as most unfortunate. Your Excellency, this is an attack too many. We know that you have been at the vanguard of ensuring peace and security for your people. In fact, you are the champion of the Amotekun in the South-West.

“We your brothers wonder if this is more personal because of the role you have played in ensuring that our zone is secured. One wonders if there is a particular reason this attack was launched in your hometown of Owo. We are deeply pained, we are deeply saddened and we commiserate with you. We pray for the lives of the departed, we pray that the almighty God forgives their sins and accepts their souls.”

Akeredolu warned that the people of the Southwest would not tolerate another unprovoked attack on the region under any guise.

He said,  “We are part of this country and we have always come to this country in peace and we have maintained peace. We have been trying every time to maintain Nigeria because we believe in Nigeria. Let someone point to an incident in which we left our enclave or we left this peaceful environment and went to cause problems in other places. Let them tell us. We have come to this country in peace, and now people want to visit us with war. You want to maim and kill us; it is not easy.

“It is a dreadful assault. I said to people that if we were at war and we were armed and faced ourselves, in one day 40 people would not die from our side. But this is not war, we were not at war.

“This is an assault on us, on our psyche. We cannot continue this way. We believe in this place, we believe in the South-Western region, and we believe in Yoruba. Is Yoruba part of Nigeria we believe in? Yes.

“If you get to the scene, I’m sure it will bring tears out of your eyes. These criminals, these animals in human skin, what they did was horrendous. They did not come to kidnap, they did not come to steal, they took no dime. They went into the church and shot at everything within their sight”‘.