Seven staff of Dangote Cement, Obajana in Kogi state have allegedly been shot and several others injured as over 500 armed members of the Vigilantes, stormed the cement factory at the prompting of the state governor, Yahaya Bello.
This was contained in a statement from t
The corporate communications department of the Dangote Group, in a statement on Wednesday claimed that members of the mining and host communities have condemned the Kogi State Government for what they described as extra judicial and unlawful deployment of the Vigilantes to cause chaos in the Obajana community.
The statement explained that the vigilantes group were led by the state Director-General of Lands; Commissioner for Solid Minerals, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Security, Commodore Jerry Omodara (rtd), Chairman of Kabba/Bunnu LGA, Chairman of Ijumu LGA and the State ALGON Chairman, Alh. Taofeek; Senior Special Assistant on Job Creation, Mr. Dele Iselewa and Chairman of Lokoja LGA, Alh. Mohammed Dansabe.
Other allegation indicated that members of the vigilante group were wielding arms of different kinds including local and assorted rifles as residents and passersby scamper for safety.
The statement claimed that “seven staff of the cement company were being attended to at the hospitals over the gunshot wounds inflicted on them.”
In the statement, the spokesman,
Oyo mining community David Oluruntoba, was said to have described the act as primitive and disgraceful, saying the youths of the community can never be used, and will not take part in such ‘evil practices’.
He said, “They called us to join them. But I told them that the company has not offended us. We just signed a Community Development Agreement (CDA) and the company has been helping us and providing us with jobs. What has the government done for us, nothing. There is no basis to support the government.”
In the same vein, spokesman, Iwaa mining community, Rotimi Kekereowo said, “We would never support government on this matter. What have they done for us? We don’t have a single political appointment at the State level. Even when we have problems of electricity and flooding, it was Dangote that was helping us. So, I want to repeat it. We will never support them.”
The statement also quoted the Olu of Akpata, Fredrick Balogun as saying that he was never contacted and as such cannot justify the unwarranted invasion.
“We are royal fathers, and we will continue to seek the path of reconciliation and amicable resolution of any misunderstanding. We don’t have issues with the company,” he charged.