Abia State Government, has promised to pay N2m naira each to the families of the nine persons killed at a cattle market in the State.
The Governor who had earlier paid N150,000 as the worth of each cow, on Monday, sent a delegation to Gombe State, to condole with the family of the deceased.
Gunmen had recently killed several persons during an invasion of the newly constructed Abia cattle market in Omumauzor in the Ukwa West local area of Abia State.
It was learnt that seven of the victims, who were killed by hoodlums, were indigenes of Gombe State.
However, the acting President, Cattle Dealers Association of Nigeria, Yahuza Yusuf, noted that no government from the southern part of the country had shown sympathy to the body like the Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu.
He hinted that the association went to Abia State to bring back surviving members, noting that Ikpeazu objected to the decision.
“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.
“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,” Yahuza said.
The representative of the governor and paramount ruler of Abriba, Kalu Ogbu, expressed sadness over the killings.
“I’m here to extend our sympathy and condolences to the people and the government of Abia State. The incident is sad and I don’t know how to explain it. There is no word to explain what happened as it was the handiwork of misguided fellows.
“Thank God that our governor has taken up the responsibility to make sure that those behind it are caught to face the full wrath of the law.”
