Cattle dealers reveal Abia gov, Ikpeazu, pledged N2m to families of market attack victims

In the aftermath of the February 15 attack by suspected gunmen on traders at the new cattle market in Omumauzor community in Ukwa West LGA in Abia which left several persons dead, the Cattle Dealers Association of Nigeria has disclosed a compensation pledge by the state government.

This was contained in a statement issued on Monday by Yahuza Yusuf, acting national president of the Cattle Dealers Association of Nigeria, who noted that Okezie Ikpeazu, governor of Abia, has promised to pay N2 million each as compensation to families of the slain cattle traders.

This was after a delegation of the Abia state government led by Kalu Ogbu, the monarch of Abiriba kingdom, visited Gombe to commiserate with the state government and the people of the state over the incident.

Most of the victims of the attack were indigenes of Gombe.

“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,” Yusuf stated.

READ ALSO: Ikpeazu apologises to Gombe gov over Abia Cattle Market attack

He also revealed that the association went to Abia State to bring back surviving members, noting that 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.

On his part, Ogbu, Abia monarch, said the state government expressed confidence that Ikpeazu will fish out the perpetrators.

The monarch further stated that the visit was to “say we are sorry and to express our sympathy and condolence of the people and government of Abia State.

“It was a very sad thing and we do not know how to explain it but it was the handiwork of misguided and ill-advised fellows.”

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