Happenings in Nigeria today should concern every right thinking adult.
Or how else can you explain this waste of the nations youth because of an
election that they have nothing to do with.

I was distraught reading these news report from Jos;

The gloom that pervaded the Lagos State Low Cost Housing Estate, Meiran, Ojokoro, Lagos, residence of Mr. and Mrs. Akintola Tokunbo Akinjogbin, yesterday can be felt with touch. The woman, emotionally broken, laid on the bed while female members of her family and friends sat around to share in her grief. Her eyes bore the image of a woman that is wearied from shedding excessively painful tears.

The second son of the family, young Mr. Ibukun Oluwatosin Akinjogbin, 23, was one of the fifty people whose lives were brought to a cruel end by the rampaging voters in Jos on Friday morning. He was killed along with his nephew, Mr. Leke Akande, 23, and a friend, Mr. Tola Odusola, 20, all youth corps members, in the home of Ibukun’s uncle, Mr. Bisi Akinjogbin, an Abuja-based businessman. The hatchet men, who broke down the high gates and stormed the residence along Katako Junction by 7Up depot in Jos about 9.15am on Friday morning; caught down the three young men in the presence of Mrs. Doyin Akinjogbin, the uncle’s wife while her daughters also watched in horror.

Mrs. Doyin Akinjogbin is already placed under sedation as a result of the shock she suffered from witnessing the killings of the young men in her home.

The three men were among the scores of youths doing their one year mandatory youth service scheme in Pankshin, Jos central, in Plateau State, till they were killed.

Riot had broken out in Jos on Thursday, due to attempted manipulations with the results of the local government polls. The election was said to have been widely won by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), candidate.

Mr. Akintola Akinjogbin, who seemed to be taking the incidence with calmness, said the killing of his son is "barbaric, satanic and uncalled for."

One of the three youth corps members, Ibukun Oluwatosin Akinjogbin, a 2001 to 2003 Quantity Surveyor student from the Obafemi Awolowo (OAU), Ife, was said to have been in contact with his family on phone up till the last minute that life was ebbed out of him.

According to the father while narrating the gory ordeal, Ibukun was about coming to Lagos when the incident caught up with him without prior warning. He said prior to that day, the late young Akinjogbin had finalised plans to visit Lagos after a while.

He said: "My son had reported for the NYSC on August 26, 2008. We were in constant touch with him because mine is a very closely knit family. He would have actually returned to Lagos on Thursday but could not because it was rather late. So, I called him around 6. 20a.m on Friday morning and he said he was on his way to the park. Then later, he called that he was going back to his uncle’s home because the riot going on in Jos was quite heated. I said it was a good decision. So, he ran back into the house and we remained in touch.

"From that time, there were several calls and it was as if he was giving us situational reports. Then, his elder brother, Kayode Akinjogbin, an Investment Analyst with Lead Capital in Lagos, took over from me and kept monitoring his brother."

Speaking, Kayode said Ibukun started asking for prayers. "Please start praying for us’’; he had begged. "They are moving towards our side of the town. In fact, they seem to be getting close to our gate. Please pray Bro. Kayode. They are outside our house now. I don’t know why they came to us but they are here," Ibukun was reported to have said.

"Now, our gates are down," were the last direct words the young man could say to me, said Kayode. "Then I started hearing him beg them. Later there seemed to be some struggles but my younger brother was still pleading. Then, I heard cries and I was afraid while at the same time shouting his name. I heard the voices of women screaming and praying to God for help. For some time, everything seemed to get silent but by this time, I was almost running crazy when my colleagues in the office grabbed my phone from me to calm me down.

"A few minutes later, after I had regained my composure, I picked my phone to call my younger brother. But it was a Hausa man that replied me. And he said in Hausa tone and seemed to be mocking at the same time: ‘Ya broad, I'm dey die, I'm det die…hHa ha, now, I'm don die’. And at that point, the phone went dead. And that was when I blacked out too," Kayode said.

Akinjogbin senior said his son had come to the Uncle’s house because of the visit to Lagos. "The uncle is like their father over there. They all go to his house whenever there is need. Ibukun served as a Works Officer with the Pankshin Local Government council because he was a Quantity Surveyor. But what can I do now than to throw my hands up to God and accept my fate?

"My concern however is why the Nigerian government should subject our children to death on annual basis? Every year, Youth Corpers die in their numbers. The government should please scrap this programme. Parents would have laboured to educate their children and in the process of doing the youth service, those children will die. This is very unfair," Akinjogbin said.

"Ibukun was a core gentleman. He was very quiet and easy-going. Everyone that ever dealt with him knew that. And how can a people kill such a young man? Nigeria is one country and we should all learn to accommodate one another regardless of religious differences. As a matter of fact, how does a political riot change to religious fight? This is why government must tame these people up North. They can’t just be killing innocent people and go scot-free all the time. If they have been dealt with in time past, they wouldn’t have done it again. For me, the NYSC stuff is a bad taste that has left a traumatic mark in my family. I just pray God to grant my wife the grace to bear the incident with calm equanimity.

Kayode also described late Ibukun as a promising, enterprising and diligent and gentle young man that everybody said something good about in his life time. "Rather than brawl, Ibukun will usually hold his peace over any issue. Sadly now, he has been caught off in his prime with his hopes and aspirations all gone with him."

In another instance, a young youth corps member, Mr. Gesham Jagboro, 26, a graduate of Geology from the Federal University of Technology, Akura (FUTA), was reported dead in an automobile accident in Lokoja, while returning from Jos where they had gone to attend a Christian conference, last weekend. According to family members, young Jagboro was among the few corps members chosen by his team of corps members to represent them at the programme.

http://thenationonlineng.com/dynamicpage.asp?id=71426

This is just so sad how these northern almajiris slaughtered these young men in cold blood

"

A few minutes later, after I had regained my composure, I picked my phone to call my younger brother. But it was a Hausa man that replied me. And he said in Hausa tone and seemed to be mocking at the same time: ‘Ya broad, I'm dey die, I'm det die…hHa ha, now, I'm don die’. And at that point, the phone went dead. And that was when I blacked out too," Kayode said.

This is the coldest thing I've ever heard,May God punish those killers and may the blood of the innocent victims haunt them forever and their generations to come.
See the risk southerners run by serving in these barbaric places.The other time it was a group of NYSC girls raped and tortured by Bayelsa militants now young men serving their country,slaughtered in northern Nigeria.

I picked my phone to call my younger brother. But it was a Hausa man that replied me. And he said in Hausa tone and seemed to be mocking at the same time: ‘Ya broad, I'm dey die, I'm det die…hHa ha, now, I'm don die’.

The greatest problem corpers have whenever this hing occur is that they barely
know the terrain to even know where to run to when such thing happens. This
reminds me of a chilling experience I had in a cab among our other country men
travelling from Kano to Jos. All the discussion in the vehicle was nothing but hate,
they were alledging that Southerners hate them with particular referrence to Orkar's
failed coup of 1990 or which year now? They said that Orkar is from Awka, they talked
about being harrased in all the suthern states that time. You can immagine how scared
I was through the more than four hours journey to Jos with two stops for prayers.

.

Youth corpers should start arming themselves or let the stupid program be scrapped. My parents keep telling to come and do it but heck no if I have to live in the North. If I do have to best believe I will have a gun and all necessary weapon for protection.

It seems to me like they just forgot about all the headless corpses they saw in Enugu train stops via benue b4 Biafra war escalated.

youth corpers shld simply refuse to return to the north. Perhaps someone will start taking note.

DavidDylan:

youth corpers shld simply refuse to return to the north. .

and the Niger Delta.

maybe they shld scrap the program. It serves no purpose or at best let everyone serve in his state of origin. I'd be more motivated to serve my own community than one who would so as easily dispense of my head shld someone draw a cartoon in china.

DavidDylan:

maybe they shld scrap the program. It serves no purpose or at best let everyone serve in his state of origin. I'd be more motivated to serve my own community than one who would so as easily dispense of my head shld someone draw a cartoon in china.

Don't worry David shit doesnt go down South of Lakoja you are safe from all harm.

The gloom that pervaded the Lagos State Low Cost Housing Estate, Meiran, Ojokoro, Lagos, residence of Mr. and Mrs. Akintola Tokunbo Akinjogbin, yesterday can be felt with touch. The woman, emotionally broken, laid on the bed while female members of her family and friends sat around to share in her grief. Her eyes bore the image of a woman that is wearied from shedding excessively painful tears.

The second son of the family, young Mr. Ibukun Oluwatosin Akinjogbin, 23, was one of the fifty people whose lives were brought to a cruel end by the rampaging voters in Jos on Friday morning. He was killed along with his nephew, Mr. Leke Akande, 23, and a friend, Mr. Tola Odusola, 20, all youth corps members, in the home of Ibukun’s uncle, Mr. Bisi Akinjogbin, an Abuja-based businessman. The hatchet men, who broke down the high gates and stormed the residence along Katako Junction by 7Up depot in Jos about 9.15am on Friday morning; caught down the three young men in the presence of Mrs. Doyin Akinjogbin, the uncle’s wife while her daughters also watched in horror.

Mrs. Doyin Akinjogbin is already placed under sedation as a result of the shock she suffered from witnessing the killings of the young men in her home.

The three men were among the scores of youths doing their one year mandatory youth service scheme in Pankshin, Jos central, in Plateau State, till they were killed.

Riot had broken out in Jos on Thursday, due to attempted manipulations with the results of the local government polls. The election was said to have been widely won by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), candidate.

Mr. Akintola Akinjogbin, who seemed to be taking the incidence with calmness, said the killing of his son is "barbaric, satanic and uncalled for."

One of the three youth corps members, Ibukun Oluwatosin Akinjogbin, a 2001 to 2003 Quantity Surveyor student from the Obafemi Awolowo (OAU), Ife, was said to have been in contact with his family on phone up till the last minute that life was ebbed out of him.

According to the father while narrating the gory ordeal, Ibukun was about coming to Lagos when the incident caught up with him without prior warning. He said prior to that day, the late young Akinjogbin had finalised plans to visit Lagos after a while.

He said: "My son had reported for the NYSC on August 26, 2008. We were in constant touch with him because mine is a very closely knit family. He would have actually returned to Lagos on Thursday but could not because it was rather late. So, I called him around 6. 20a.m on Friday morning and he said he was on his way to the park. Then later, he called that he was going back to his uncle’s home because the riot going on in Jos was quite heated. I said it was a good decision. So, he ran back into the house and we remained in touch.

"From that time, there were several calls and it was as if he was giving us situational reports. Then, his elder brother, Kayode Akinjogbin, an Investment Analyst with Lead Capital in Lagos, took over from me and kept monitoring his brother."

Speaking, Kayode said Ibukun started asking for prayers. "Please start praying for us’’; he had begged. "They are moving towards our side of the town. In fact, they seem to be getting close to our gate. Please pray Bro. Kayode. They are outside our house now. I don’t know why they came to us but they are here," Ibukun was reported to have said.

"Now, our gates are down," were the last direct words the young man could say to me, said Kayode. "Then I started hearing him beg them. Later there seemed to be some struggles but my younger brother was still pleading. Then, I heard cries and I was afraid while at the same time shouting his name. I heard the voices of women screaming and praying to God for help. For some time, everything seemed to get silent but by this time, I was almost running crazy when my colleagues in the office grabbed my phone from me to calm me down.

"A few minutes later, after I had regained my composure, I picked my phone to call my younger brother. But it was a Hausa man that replied me. And he said in Hausa tone and seemed to be mocking at the same time: ‘Ya broad, I'm dey die, I'm det die…hHa ha, now, I'm don die’. And at that point, the phone went dead. And that was when I blacked out too," Kayode said.

Akinjogbin senior said his son had come to the Uncle’s house because of the visit to Lagos. "The uncle is like their father over there. They all go to his house whenever there is need. Ibukun served as a Works Officer with the Pankshin Local Government council because he was a Quantity Surveyor. But what can I do now than to throw my hands up to God and accept my fate?

"My concern however is why the Nigerian government should subject our children to death on annual basis? Every year, Youth Corpers die in their numbers. The government should please scrap this programme. Parents would have laboured to educate their children and in the process of doing the youth service, those children will die. This is very unfair," Akinjogbin said.

"Ibukun was a core gentleman. He was very quiet and easy-going. Everyone that ever dealt with him knew that. And how can a people kill such a young man? Nigeria is one country and we should all learn to accommodate one another regardless of religious differences. As a matter of fact, how does a political riot change to religious fight? This is why government must tame these people up North. They can’t just be killing innocent people and go scot-free all the time. If they have been dealt with in time past, they wouldn’t have done it again. For me, the NYSC stuff is a bad taste that has left a traumatic mark in my family. I just pray God to grant my wife the grace to bear the incident with calm equanimity.

Kayode also described late Ibukun as a promising, enterprising and diligent and gentle young man that everybody said something good about in his life time. "Rather than brawl, Ibukun will usually hold his peace over any issue. Sadly now, he has been caught off in his prime with his hopes and aspirations all gone with him."

In another instance, a young youth corps member, Mr. Gesham Jagboro, 26, a graduate of Geology from the Federal University of Technology, Akura (FUTA), was reported dead in an automobile accident in Lokoja, while returning from Jos where they had gone to attend a Christian conference, last weekend. According to family members, young Jagboro was among the few corps members chosen by his team of corps members to represent them at the programme.

Innocent youth corps members
Pathetic!!! Too bad!!! Painful!!!

I m crying wit a heavy heart.After 4 5 6 7 or even 8 yrs of stress in our delapidating univrsties,some would be kild

and the Niger Delta.

Why Niger Delta you bizaga?. You are so quick to mention my village as a no go area but  not Ondo where they kidnap igbos in dozens?. Ezi  ohia. Left to me, i will advise corpers not to go near you because the bacterias and viruses from your idi nla can cause genocide.

.

Why must every discussions like this degenerate to personal attacks.

I believe we all can be civil, at least to respect the dead.

It sad enough that this happening to the land of our forebears, it worse when people engage in throwing missiles at one another.

.

Not talking to anyone in particular, just saying it the way am seeing it.

.

Hey! why been aggressive?. Sorry you are with wrong guy. I deals with issues

.

Thank you and c'mom move on.

.

.

@poster
while this is a really sad occurence,i think your heading is highly misleading,this is only happening in a section of nigeria and nysc members are not being targeted and killed off indiscriminately like your post has inferred, however addressing the post, i reckon corpers shouldnt be sent to the hot spots or potentially volatile areas for the time being,and like i have written in other threads more efforts should be made in educating these almajiris so that they will not be continually used as weapons, to destabilise nd murder innocent people, the only reason other ethnicities dont cause such mayhem is simply because they are more enlightened and educated than the northern youths and i think both the government and charities should make a more concerted effort to address this, because in my opinion even if you kill them all,it wont solve the underlying problem as more almajiris will be brainwashed and continue where the others left off to serve the so called "big men", illiteracy and ignorancy combined with religious fanaticism/fevour is a very very volatile and dangerous coctail in any country whatsoever as we have seen all round the world,not just in nigeria,

hausas as a people are not evil,misguided and illiterate northern children and youths are being brainwashed into committing dastard acts, remember the 10,11,12 yr old children in liberia,sierra leone e.t.c

lucabrasi:

@poster
while this is a really sad occurence,i think your heading is highly misleading,this is only happening in a section of nigeria and nysc members are not being targeted and killed off indiscriminately like your post has inferred, however addressing the post, i reckon corpers shouldnt be sent to the hot spots or potentially volatile areas for the time being,

I have to restrict my response to your post on the ones that concern me. Having said that permit me to say that you are obviously not abreast with happenings in Nigeria cos if you are I guess your opinion would have been different. Just consider these; why were those guys in Jos? Do you think a corper will know a city so well in two months as to know where to hide? Remember how young people come out of school this days. Just read more about Nigeria you'll agree that they are indeed the endangered ones especially when there is conflict.

like i said before,i still think calling them "endangered species"is highly misleading, endangered loosely means that they are being killed off in large numbers and are almost extinct, which isnt the case here as we can clearly see,second if you read through my comments i meant that the body in charge of corper postings should stop sending them to potential hotspots and volatile areas for the time being,because from what i have seen without being subjective,i think riots has been mostly confined to the northern areas leaving out the rest of nigeria apart from jos and maybe kaduna,
they can be posted mainly to the east,west,south south till the whole thing is sorted out and safgeguards put in place to ensure their safety

@Lucabrasi may be you should read this;

No fewer than three corps members, according to the Lagos state coordinator of the scheme, Mr. Anthony Ani, lost their lives in the mayhem. Ani, who confirmed this when he paid a condolence visit to the parents of one of the corps member killed, Ibukun Akinjogbin, at Meiran in Lagos, promised that NYSC would take care of the burial expenses of the deceased.

Apart from the three youth corps members officially confirmed dead by the authorities, P.M.News gathered many others are still missing. Following the wanton killing of corps members by the rioters, their parents have launched a mobilisation campaign for the cancellation of the scheme.

Firing the first salvo was Mr. Akintola Tokunbo Akinjogbin, father of Ibukun Akinjogbin, a corps member butchered in the Jos riots. “I don’t understand why the Nigerian government should subject our children to death on an annual basis. Every year, youth corps members die in their numbers. The government should please scrap this programme.

“Parents would have laboured to educate their children and in the process of doing their youth service, those children will die. This is very unfair,” Akinjogbin stated.

Another parent, a professor at the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, in a text message to P.M.News, called on parents to come together and tell the government to cancel the NYSC scheme.

The professor who said he lost his 28-year-old nephew in the crisis, stated: “Dear parents, the recent Jos crisis claimed the lives of several NYSC members, including our 28-year-old nephew.

“He was butchered in cold blood along with two others corps members in their house, for no reason. No parent should go through such sorrow. Please, join the campaign for the abrogation of NYSC. Enough is enough. Do not wait until your child is wasted.”

The professor called on recipients of the message to send it to five other parents. Another parent, who identified himself as Mr. Odusole, also called for the scrapping of the NYSC scheme. In his message, he disclosed that he lost his 21-year-old son, Tola Odusole, who was to complete his NYSC in February, in the Jos killings.

“He was slaughtered in cold blood along with Leke and Ibukun,” he added. P.M.News learnt that many parents have received this message and have been passing it to others.

Parents with children serving under the scheme, investigations revealed, have sent letters to the NYSC Director-General, Maj.-Gen. Yusuf Bomoi, expressing their desire for the cancellation of the scheme. I[b]t was gathered that parents with children posted to states close to Plateau have asked their children to come home for fear that the crisis might spread to the states.[/b]

Most of the corps members who spoke with P.M.News, at the Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos, orientation camp of the NYSC, also supported their parents. They said there was no need sending them to states where they would be slaughtered by rioters or religious fundamentalists. Some of them said they preferred being posted to the southern states instead of the northern ones which are prone to religious and communal riots.

http://thepmnews.com/2008/12/03/cancel-nysc-parents-mount-campaign