By Our Correspondent
The Abia State Government says it has discovered 70 decomposing bodies believed to have been kidnap victims killed by their captors.
Security operatives found the bodies during a raid.
50 of the bodies were found at Lokpanta Cattle Market in the Umunneochi axis of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, the other 20 were discovered in forests around the market.
Governor Alex Oti made these chilling revelations Sunday during the second edition of his monthly media chat in Umuahia.
Oti said payment of ransom to suspected kidnappers had equally traced to the market.
He vowed that no inch of the state land mass would be left for criminals in line with his administration’s commitment to protect the lives of every citizen and visitors to the state.
The Governor insisted that the resolve of the state to make the cattle market a daily market was not targeted at any particular tribe in the country, but rather it was aimed at revamping the security architecture of the market and its host community.
“We have taken a stand to provide adequate security to Abia citizens and visitors because no government can succeed in the face of insecurity. This government will not get involved in supporting criminals or allow them to occupy any part of the state.
When we decided to occupy the Lokpanta cattle market in Umunneochi Local Government Area of the state, we discovered 50 dead bodies, 20 headless dead bodies, men, women and children and uncountable skeletons. We also discovered that ransoms paid to kidnappers were usually dropped close to the market.
“But it was unfortunate that some people misinterpreted our action to mean that we asked the Northerners trading in the market to leave the state, but after our interactions with leaders of the Northern community, we told them that anyone who is not in support of the moves we are making to secure the state must be a criminal, they saw reasons with us and quickly reversed the quit notice they issued to Igbos in the North.
“That’s why we have decided to make the market a daily market, people can go to the market and do their business and go home at the end of the day. The market will not be only a cattle market again, but it will have other sections for other goods like every other market.
“Those who live inside the market will now live among other people in the state outside the market”
The governor maintained that his administration is committed to using government money to provide quality infrastructure for its residents, adding that the government will not use its resources to service attention seekers and supposed political stakeholders.
He called on those with complaints of shortage in the payment of their salaries to approach the office of the Accountant General of the state with their petitions, adding that such petitions would be treated with dispatch.
(ThePunch)
