Edo State Government Silent over Edo North Massacre of Peaceful Protesters, the Gruesome Murder of Godwin Junior Iraoya
(An Account of a Community Eyewitness)
By: Enaholo J.K.
+2348069055018
When John F. Kennedy opined that “those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable”, he must have had the Nigerian #endSARS Protests at heart.
For long, some personnel of the Nigerian force especially soldiers and police have unprofessionally wielded arms against harmless Nigerians. Dehumanization of Nigerians on the highway, in the market places and even at their homes have held sway unchallenged by poor Nigerians living in Nigeria and their rights have continually been violated by men of the force for no just cause.
The culture of road blocks sprouted and metamorphosed from their original intent of safeguarding road users to extorting same and from there it gained flight into the dastardly act of killing innocent road users who could not afford the ‘extortionary’ demands of the men in uniform.
Accounts of killings trailed the social media without any tangible investigation into these deaths nor were any officers, enforcers of the law (who broke the law) brought to book and so the people wailed and wailed without succor. These led to calls for the reformation of the Nigerian Police to put an end to the ‘malactivities’. To this end, we heard and read that SARS have been reformed not once, twice nor thrice.
The spree went on until the golden words of Bob Marley whispered into the hearts of Nigerians recently. The people realized that it is “Better to die fighting for freedom than be a prisoner all the days of your life” and soon, Richelle Mead’s reminder, “the greatest and most powerful revolution often start very quietly, hidden in the shadows. Remember that” played out on Earth’s most populous black nation _Nigeria.
It will amount to information overload if one tries to bring in all accounts of protests accompanying the #endSARS movement that engulfed southern Nigeria 2weeks ago and so my focus is on the movement at the local level, our very own jurisdiction, Edo North.
A coalition of Edo North Youths for Good Governance was formed and quickly, members joined the platform to help organize a peaceful march across Edo North. The procession was to take off from Sharp-Corner in Auchi Sacred Kingdom with short stops at the Otaru’s Palace, the Auchi Divisional Police Headquarters/Area Command, the Ogieneni of Uzairue’s Palace, the Aidonogie of South-Ibie’s palace and down to Aviele in view of airing the voices of the youths and calling on government at all levels to put an end to maladministration in all quarters.
After much deliberation, consultations and preparations, the march was scheduled and slated for Monday the 12th of October. However, on Sunday, 11th of October, Muhammad Adamu the Inspector General of Police announced the disbandment of SARS. This development prompted the Body to quickly call an impromptu meeting were members had to revisit the proposed protest. There it was agreed that the planned protest be put on hold while members studied the situation in view of determining whether the body would stage one in the near future or put it off entirely.
This decision was unpopular in the minds of a few when the resolution was announced to the larger house across social networks and so, even though the protest was put on hold, it was observed that on Monday the 12th, some youths embarked on a protest from the Polytechnic Road up to the Police station where they were reportedly spraying monies at the police gates and daring men of the police to come out and engage them.
This act was denounced by the initial initiators of the protest and calls on Edo North youths were made via AUCHI BLOGspot to plead that everyone remains calm and not resort to illegalities that may ruin the original intent of lawful youths who had proposed the protest from the onset.
Furthermore, CENYGG had to resume the roundtable for deliberations having studied the situation around the country and decided that Edo North was due for a protest given its nodal positioning as the route connecting the Northern and Southern part of Nigeria through Auchi Sacred Kingdom. This time the Protest was slated for Monday the 19th of October.
However, at this point various platforms had been formed and all these had to synergize with CENYGG for coordination. Prominent amongst these groups were ROOTS, Edo North EndSARS Movement and the Auchi Polytechnic Student Union Government body.
Every group had the mandate to sensitize its members and rules were made to ensure that the protest was peace and devoid of illegalities. To this end a list of Dos and DONTs was birthed and the protest’s 10 commandments came up.
1. Protesters are not allowed to come on board with hard drugs.
2. Alcohol and other intoxicants are not to be consumed while protesting. The highest one can take is a mild energy drink.
3. We must not wield arms (guns, machete, knives/daggers) to the protest ground.
4. We must adorn the green and white colours of the Nigerian Flag.
5. We must respect protocols
6. We must not steal or forcefully collect monies from Okada riders et’al
7. We must be duly registered with our various groups for accountability.
8. We must all act as the security of our lives and properties.
9. We must not harass any force personnel.
10. We must not be seen spraying money and whoever has same should support fellow comrades in the struggle with essential needs to boost morale.
19th came with the speed of light and soon, Sharp-Corner was filled to capacity. The procession started and all headed for the protest venue at Jattu Junction.
While protesting police brutality and maladministration across every facet of government and governance, a lot of issues popped up.
1. The crowd was overwhelming and even when the intent was pure and devoid of illegalities, the potential for violence could not be ruled out because a lot of unknown faces had join in the protest and a whole lot of activities had been lit at the protest ground.
2. It had become difficult for the various groups to uniformly account for their members in line with the agreement that all members must be registered with their groups before heading to the protest ground.
3. A proliferation of intoxicants and other substances had begun and could not be controlled.
4. A majority of all those involved in the aforementioned belonged to no known group and it was unclear what their intent was.
5. There were cases when these seeming strangers were involved in confraternal squabbles/fights.
6. Never did the original conveners of October 19th protest anticipate confraternal differences and presence of the different cult members in the region nor were any plans made to curtail their excesses in case of eventualities.
7. The most disturbing of the challenges that held sway was the aggression of men of the Nigerian Army who were reportedly headed by Col. Tanko.
At about 12noon, news had filtered in through the Secretary to the state Government that the Governor, Godwin Obaseki had imposed a curfew in view of Jail breaks in Benin Correctional facilities and other wanton destruction of properties. The curfew was to begin by 4pm on the 19th and so, all protesting groups had to advise their members to halt all protest activities latest 3:30pm to reconvene on Tuesday the 20th.
At about 3pm same day, a group of Soldiers reportedly headed by Col. Tanko who were coming from the Jattu axis of area wanted forceful passage and thus, opened fire at protesting unarmed youths and this led to the injury of many with fatalities recorded.
3fatalities were immediately recorded on the spot. Two boys shot at their bellies while the other got a bullet in his femur (thigh). These were immediately rushed to Jay’M’Jay but the most fatal was referred by Jay’M’Jay to Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital and same died while being convened to ISTH. The name of the boy who died is Mr. Godwin Junior Iraoya from Otuo. His corpse is lodged at the Sancta Maria Mortuary as at the time of compiling this report, awaiting autopsy. The other who got shot in his belly was lucky not to have any of his vital organs affected by the bullet. He was operated on and came back on Tuesday for day 2 of the protest but was advised to go home and rest. The third guy’s thigh had gone bad and had to be operated. However, it was decided that the situation of the leg had gone from bad to worse and so his leg was amputated at ISTH and CENYGG in collaboration with other Youth Oriented platforms are raising funds to cater for his medical bills and procure an artificial leg at the sum of #2.5m. Many more sustained mild injuries and have been taken care of.
The protest continued on Tuesday with better control measures having learnt from the inadequacies of Monday’s outing. Comrades were on ground to while announcing the grievances of the youths to the government, sensitize the protesting youths to jettison acts that could pose as threat to the success of the event. Soldiers who came by in a Hilux Van were allowed passage to and from wherever they were going or coming from and as many times as they came by. There was not fracas between protesting youths and the army on Tuesday. Notably, Timaya who had slept at the protest venue on Monday night made sure that every potential trouble was watered down and the protest continued. This held sway up until the protest ground had to be vacated before curfew time. A unitary meeting was held in view of day3’s protests but news filtered in that some elements had planned to hijack the peaceful protest to achieve their personal vendetta. To this end, it was resolved that the protest be put on hold at Jattu Junction and continue online via all social media networks.
The aforementioned analogy will not be complete if the loud silence by government at all levels is not mentioned.
None of the activities that transpired from Monday 19th up until the last meeting held by CENYGG has happened without the knowledge of all and sundry. News of the death of Godwin Junior Iraoya has gotten international recognition but no elected government official both at the grassroot (local government) to the state government has shown empathy to the victims and casualties of Monday’s protest.
It is sad that the various LG Bosses of Edo North have kept mum. Not even the traditional rulers nor the Governor of Edo state, H.E. Godwin Obaseki has condemned the gruesome massacre of protesters at Jattu Junction by trigger happy soldiers.
The Iraoya family and youths across Edo North are demanding Justice for their murdered son and have published a petition against the murderers which reads,
“Iraoya Gowin Junior who was murdered in cold blood by soldiers in Auchi on Monday October 19 during a peaceful #Endsars protest; hails from Otuo, Owan East LGA of Edo State.
Godwin Junior Iraoya is an orphan who had been staying with his uncle, Mr. Titus Oisamoje Iraoya, a renowned Electrical and Electronic Engineer/Contractor on Warrake Road Auchi. He marked his 25th birthday on October 3rd only to be murdered on October 19th
He was born in Sapele. His late mother was from the late Chief Peru of the Okpe clan in Awolowo road extension, Sapele.
The young man completed his secondary education from Azama College, Otuo, and has been learning Automobile Electronics in Auchi until his demise. He is the last of five siblings, three boys and two girls.
The family, friends and youths of Auchi, Otuo and Afenmailand demand for a full scale investigation. We demand for justice. Our son cannot die in vain. Justice! Justice!! Justice!!! is all we need.”
The above is signed by his uncle Iraoya Oisamoje Titus with the contact number 08084081358
While the physical protests have been suspended in Edo North, a full scale social media protest has swept through twitter, facebook, instalgram and the likes to drive home the message of the youths to the government and consequently, trickles of responses to the demands of Nigerians are being felt while more have been promised.
Sequel to the death of Godwin Junior Iraoya who died from what can be tagged Edo North Youths Massacre by men of the Army at Jattu Junction, a petition has been drafted and every well meaning person is advised to sign same so that justice will be served those who murdered the young man. In view of this, you can click on the link below to sign the petition against Col. Tanko who reportedly led the soldiers to the venue on Monday.
Arrest Col. Abdul Salam Tanko Now!
While we share this analogy and sign the petition against the murderers of Godwin, lessons have been learnt (bitter ones at that). These lessons will form the bulk of another piece that will soon pop up.
“Sometimes you have to pick the gun up to put the gown down.” _Malcom X
Stay tuned.
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