₦airaland Forum

IDOMA VOICE gathered that the father and son whose identities could not be ascertained at the moment were killed during a recent attack on Binev in Buruku local government of Benue State by suspected Fulani Herdsmen.

However, an eyewitness said the incident was as a result of a reprisal attack by the Fulani following an earlier protest by the locals whose yam barns were allegedly ransacked and the both yam tubers and seeds were completely eaten by the Fulani’s cattle.

Our attention has been drawn to spurious Media reports on the Panama papers in which Former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark was alleged to have operated offshore companies.

For the avoidance of doubt, in the released materials of the Panama Leaks, his name is not listed anywhere in the database of Mossack Fonseca Law Firm. We reiterate categorically, that he is not directly or indirectly connected to any of the companies registered, operated or managed by the Mossack Fonseca Law Firm. We challenge all those behind this propaganda and Media outburst to prove or show that Senator Mark’s name was mentioned in the leaks. He is prepared to stand and defend himself against any accusation in relation to this matter.
Senator Mark’s Media team has carried out its own search of the Mossack Fonseca database and found no statement, item or any connection to Senator David Mark or his Family. It follows that there is no record whatsoever of any impropriety or wrongdoing.

We recall that in his quest for Senate Presidency in 2007, there was an attempt to bring a similar issue to the fore in order to stop him. So what are their fears now in 2016 for regurgitating the same issue?

Once more, Senator Mark has distanced himself and any member of his family from the said Mossack Fonseca Firm and has no affiliation whatsoever with any company operated, registered or managed by Mossack Fonseca.

Senator Mark has not contravened any laws of the land and he is treating this for what it is, an attempt to blackmail and tarnish his hard earned image by some political elements.

As a public officer, Senator Mark has maintained a high level of decorum, respects and observes the laws of the land and believes in the sanctity of the rule of law. He will not be distracted by what is clearly a deliberate mischief and propaganda.

Records of all his assets are available with the relevant government agencies and can be verified.
He has consulted his legal team and will take this up accordingly.

News reaching IDOMA VOICE from Edo State has it that no fewer than five persons have been crushed to death by a trailer belonging to Dangote Group of Companies after colliding with a Bedford truck in Ikwo village along the ever busy Auchi-Benin road.
The incident, an eyewitness who is currently at the scene said happened at about 1PM on Thursday.


The source hinted IDOMA VOICE that the driver of the Dangote trailer was heading to Warri from Obajana Cement Factory when the incident occurred.



He said the driver lost control and rammed into the Bedford Truck conveying wood while ascending the Ikwo hill and somersaulted severally, trapping five of its occupants to death.



“We are trying to rescue the victims at the moment,” he told our reporter.

DAREDEVIL Fulani herdsmen, on Friday, shot at the convoy of former Senate President, David Mark, during his assessment tour of the destroyed Agatu communities in Benue State.

The former Senate President, however, escaped unhurt.

Mark was in company with the erstwhile Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro; a member House of the Representatives for Ohimini/Otukpo, Constituency, Honourable Ezekiel Adaji, security aides, journalists and party supporters during the tour of the eight communities.

The communities are Aila, Akwu, Okokolo, Adagbo, Akwu, Ogboju and Odugbeho, which have been destroyed by Fulani herdsmen.

The convoy was at Akwu community when some fleeing herdsmen sighted the convoy and shot at it, causing members of the lawmaker’s convoy to scamper for safety.

The security men attached to the convoy were ordered to remain calm and not exchange fire. The former Senate President thereafter ordered that the convoy continue to move.

Saturday Tribune observed that the eight communities were totally destroyed and deserted except Odugbeho, which was again attacked on Thursday evening.

Speaking to some survivors in one of the communities, Mark regretted the wanton destructions, which he described as “unimaginable” and called on the people to remain calm.

One of the community’s youth leaders, Michael, who spoke at Aila, lamented what he called the porous security in Agatu Local Government Area and asked the former Senate President to tell the president to remove the soldiers as “we are competent now to defend ourselves.”

The youth in the communities accused state governor, Chief Samuel Ortom, of not visiting the affected areas. They added that when the deputy governor, Benson Abounu, visited the areas, he only stopped at Apa, where the displaced persons are camped.

But Mark appealed to the youth to keep the peace and remain law-abiding as he promised to relate what he had seen to the government for prompt action.
Meanwhile, Governor Ortom has raised the alarm on the escalation of attacks on his people by the Fulani herdsmen.

The governor, in raising the alarm, declared that Boko Haram’s terrorism was becoming a child’s play, compared to the atrocities of Fulani herdsmen.
Governor Ortom disclosed this on Friday in Makurdi while administering oath of office on the President, Customary Court of Appeal (CCA), Justice Cosmos Idye and a High Court judge, Justice Augustine Ityonyiman.

He disclosed that the Federal Government had approved the deployment of soldiers to the state to end the lingering farmers/herdsmen crisis in the state.

He said the invasion of some communities by Fulani herdsmen in the state was becoming worrisome adding that “more Local Government Areas are being attacked on daily basis.”

“As we speak, the Fulanis have started moving out of Agatu to other parts of the state.

“What we are witnessing today in Benue is more than what happened in the North-East,” he said.
He said that Agatu, Logo, Tarka, Buruku, and Kwande were all under attack by the Fulani mercenaries.
Ortom charged the judiciary nationwide to support government anti-corruption crusade through effective and timely dispensation of justice.

In a remark, the CCA President pledged to uphold the Constitution and judicial ethics in the discharge of his duties.

Also, presidential spokes person, Femi Adesina, told Saturday Tribune, on Friday, that the problem is a perennial crisis.

According to him, there was peace in the past because there were cattle grazing routes but with the Federal Government working in conjunction with states and local governments, peace will be restored in the communities.

“Security is a continuous process. It is the duty of every government to guarantee safety of lives and property. This government is committed to that,” Adesina said.

Let’s stop eating cow meat —8-yr-old survivor
“If I have my way, no one should be eating cow meat again. If this happens, I hope it will stop the killing in Agatu.” These were the words of an eight-year-

No fewer than seven persons have been crushed to death in a fatal auto mishap that happened Kastina Ala- Zaki Biam road in Akanya area of Benue State.

IDOMA VOICE gathered that driver of a 911 reportedly lost control and rammed into a Toyota Corolla, killing all passengers in board.

The luciferious incident, IDOMA VOICE gathered happened around 4pm on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, corpses of the victims have since been deposited into the mortuary.

According to a Facebook group, Kwande Gist. The poster, Yaasa Kissy Wizzy Robert captured this picture of a local petty thief paraded by Benue State vigilante, Kwande chapter.

Senator David Mark yesterday emerged winner of the rerun election conducted in Benue South senatorial district by the Independent National Electoral Commission.


The immediate past senate president and candidate of Peoples Democratic Party defeated his closest rival, Mr. Daniel Onje of All Progressives Congress after winning in five of the nine local government areas of Benue South Senatorial district.


According to the results announced by the INEC returning officer, Professor Isiaka Eneji. Mark had 18,468 votes in Otukpo, his native local government, while Onje polled 12,203. In Obadigbo LGA, Mark scored 6,844 while Onje scored 8,882. Others are Ado LGA, Mark 6,513, Onje 6,370; Agatu LGA, Mark 7,986, Onje 3,456; Okpokwu LGA, Mark 11,935, Onje 6,830; Apa LGA - Mark 9,191, Onje 4,942.


By this victory in the court-ordered rerun poll, which followed the nullification of his election by the Court of Appeal, the former senate president, who would be doing his fifth term at the upper chamber, will retain the status of Nigeria’s longest serving senator. He is also the country’s longest served senate president.


The Court of Appeal, sitting in Makurdi, had on November 28 last year nullified the election of the former senate president, upturning his confirmation last October as winner of the March 28, 2015 senatorial election by the election petitions tribunal. The appeal court also ordered a rerun of the poll within 90 days of its ruling.


Yesterday’s contest, which was held in a generally peaceful atmosphere, was a straight fight between Mark and Onje, a former students’ union leader. Mark is 68 years old, while Onje is 41. Benue South senatorial district is peopled mainly by the Idoma, and Mark and Onje are of the ethnic nationality.


Besides Benue, rerun elections were also billed to hold yesterday in Kaduna, Plateau, Niger, Nasarawa, Kogi, Taraba and Imo states, the first set of the 80 court-ordered elections that INEC said it was scheduled to conduct between January and March. Though, the elections for Plateau and Imo were later postponed.

As reactions continue to trail a recent statement attributed to Col. Ojogbane Adegbe, former aide-de-camp to immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan, the military personnel has debunked ever threatening to open a can-of-worm about his erstwhile principal.

Col. Adegbe, while expressing shocks and disbelief over the recent viral report, which quoted him as saying that if he was forced to reveal what transpired under the last administration, Nigeria will boil, had demanded an unreserved apologia from the management of the Sun Publishing Limited for dragging his hard-earned name to the mud.

He said his recent visit to the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was never in connection with the controversial arms scandal.


Reacting to the report, the military official in a letter by his solicitor, Chief Ogwu Onoja, SAN, and exclusively obtained by DAILY POST, denied ever making such controversial statement against his former boss during his interrogation at the EFCC office.

According the letter, “We have read with shock and disbelief the lead story in your newspaper, dated Friday 12th February, 2016, titled: “If I open up, Nigeria will burn. Detained Jonathan’s ex-ADC warns, as EFCC declares Tompolo wanted” .

The lawyer, while describing the report as false, misleading and defamatory, said it had caused significant harm to his client’s good name and reputation.

He said, “we have examined the full story contained on page 7 of the paper and the different statements credited to him and compared them with provable facts. This comparison shows without any doubt whatsoever that, among others, the following of your statements about what transpired are false:


a. You stated that Col. Adegbe was credited to have said: “If I open up, Nigeria will burn.”

b. You stated that: “the economic and financial crimes commission (EFCC) picked up Adegbe on Wednesday in Lagos where he was interrogated before he was flown to Abuja yesterday.”

c. You stated that: “It was gathered that ongoing interrogation of the former ADC by operatives of the EFCC could open up a new can of worms, which could surpasss what is now known as Dasukigate”

d. You stated that: “Col. Adegbe who was arrested in Lagos a few days ago, was said to be attending a senior officers course outside the former capital city, but on a visit, when he was picked up for interrogation.”

“To set the record straight, all the issues raised by your paper above only exist in the figment of your imagination. This attitude of yours is highly unprofessional and capable of heating up the polity and has indeed brought the name of our client to great disrepute. We are constrained to set the records straight by informing you that our client was not arrested as reported by your newspaper.”

Explaining the real reason for his invitation to the anti-graft office, the solicitor noted that, “to set the records straight, Col Adegbe was not arrested by EFCC as claimed by your newspaper. It is known fact that Col Adegbe has been in the UK for studies having been released by the Nigerian Army to do so.

“The EFCC wrote the military authority to invite our client for questioning with respect to an ongoing investigation to clarify certain allegations made against him. The military authority invited him back to Nigeria, which he willingly came in and reported to the office of the provost marshal in Abuja on Wednesday 10th February 2016. Due to his late arrival and the inability of the Army to complete their documentation, he was asked to report to the Garrison Mess in Mogadishu Cantonment in line with military tradition till the next day. Upon completion of the necessary paper work, he was excorted to the EFCC where he wrote his statement and was interrogated.

“We are also familiar with the statement he wrote at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and are also acquainted with answers he gave to questions, so we are at a complete loss as to how your newspaper arrived at that highly sensational and false story. The lawyers and representative of the Nigerian Army were present through out the interrogation. There was never a time Col. Adegbe threatened to burn down Nigeria.

“He has demanded a retraction of the said story with the same banner headline and an apology from the Sun Newspaper within 12 hours to avoid legal action.

“In view of your false and malicious statements, we demand a retraction of the false story with the same banner headline and an apology for your fictitious and highly embarrassing report. The retraction and apology must carry and be accorded the same prominence not less than 7 editions of your publication. We also demand that the retraction be syndicated to all your prints and the online media links in the same way and manner you spread the false story.

“We demand this to be effected within 12 hours while we advise our client on the legal implication of this malicious publication,” the statement added.

Some irate youths in Aliade, the power seat of Gwer Local government took law into their hands after they arrested a notorious criminal who has been terrorizing their area.

IDOMAVOICE.COM reports that the youths arrested the suspected robber, whose identity was given as Mgbajime and set set him on fire after beating him to a pulp.

The victim was roasted before the police could arrive.

A resident of the area told our reporter that Mgbajime is among the many notorious bandits that have been robbing citizens of the area for years now.

As reactions continue to trail the gruesome murder of a 4-year-old girl by her mother in Gboko area of Benue State, IDOMA VOICE has obtained the image of the face behind the cruel act.


The victim whose identity was given as Mercy was until the ugly incident a resident of Tomamyiin, Akaajime, Gboko East (Behind Princess Adejo international college).

A resident said the woman who is currently at large killed her 4-year-old daughter, tied her in a sack bag and dumped her inside a well.According to a testimony of a neighbour who witnessed the the incident, the body of the late infant was discovered when children wanted to fetch from the well.

The eyewitness said this gruesome act was suspected to have been committed in the early hours of Monday or Sunday night after which the murderer travelled to an undisclosed destination early on Monday.
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Logician:
So unfortunate one can't buy sense.

Your soar-away King of Community tabloid, IDOMA VOICE brings you an exclusive story of Ohimini-born Agbo Odeh Hillary who broke academic record of the Benue University as the first ever First Class graduate from the department of Psychology.
Interestingly, he is the winner of the Idoma Voice Most Outstning student.

Here is the story of Hillary as told by Hillary himself.


The story of Agbo Odeh Hillary is the story of time and chance, Hilary was born on the 23rd December, 1985 in Otukpo Local government of Benue State.

He had his secondary education in LEA Primary School Otukpo and the proceeded Federal Government College, Otobi where he graduated in 2003. He thereafter applied for remedial studies at the Benue State University in 2005 for a pre-degree program with intention to study Medicine.

According to him, he worked extremely hard and was one of the best in the Remedial Studies of that year but in a twist of fate, Medicine was offered to only 2 Remedial Students of Tiv extraction while he was offered admission to study Physics instead of Medicine and Surgery. In frustration, he took he took the bait and settled with the Physics he was offered with little interest in the course.

IDOMA VOICE learnt that determined Hillary struggled with the course due to lack of interest. It wasn’t surprising at all that Hillary could not cope with studies as frustration and depression set in in his academic pursuit.



Hilary was at his lowest ebb in in his final year when his 300 level result was published. Bravo! He was at the bottom of his class crawling with Seventeen (17) carryovers, albeit he was placed on probation by the school authority. Hilary became the subject of mockery in the school among his colleagues. Like the four men with leprosy in 2 Kings 7 at the entrance of the city gate who said to each other, "Why stay here until we die? Hilary came to a decision point, why stay here and be withdrawn? He told himself the hard truth, it was time to move forward regardless the storms.

Undaunted, the young Hilary said he was led of God to pick a new JAMB form. Motivated by his desire to study Medicine which was practically impossible to get, he applied for Psychology which also had something to do with human beings. By the second Semester in his 400 level, the JAMB admission was out and he was admitted to study Psychology hence, he withdrew himself from Physics Department and started a fresh academic journey in the department of Psychology.

It is said that adversity builds character, but it is also said that adversity reveals character. It is pleasantly not surprising that Hilary’s story is that of the grace of God at work and sheer resilience. He persevered, and not just blindly. He took the best of his life and got rid of the worst part of his life, and moved on, realizing that he could make a choice to take the good. The young Hilary took the story of frustration and turned it into the best orchestral in the history of Benue State University.

The young resilient Idoma boy from Ohimini, the worst student in Physics, with 17 carryovers to his name will subsequently graduate from the same University from the Psychology Department with a First Class Degree with a CGPA of 4.57. His outstanding performance broke many records in the University; the first “First Class” result in the Department of Psychology since inception of the University in 1992. He also became the overall best graduating student of the 14th & 15th combined convocation of BSU held on 17th January 2015. His exploit came with several rewards, he bagged seven academic awards including the Tony and Awele Elumelu price for excellence.

When asked what was responsible for his rare achievement, Hilary attributed it to God. According to him, he has a photographic memory with capacity to retain and reproduce anything he takes in. He also said that there was a time in School that he had to read for 15 hours at a stretch.

Hillary love to read and engage in creative thinking. He dreams of becoming a professor of clinical psychology and a preacher of God's Word.