Angry National Youth Service Corps members who attended the funeral ceremony for Mr. Seun Adewunmi, a victim of the post-presidential election violence that swept parts of Northern Nigeria, in Ado-Ekiti, capital of Ekiti State, on Friday, launched a verbal attack on the Bauchi State Governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda.
The corps members broke down in tears as their colleague’s corpse, which was draped in the Nigerian flag and in the colours of the National youth Service Corps, arrived at the Government House ground in Ado-Ekiti for a church service.
Some of the corps members in Ado-Ekiti, who rained curses on the killers of their colleagues in the North, did not spare Yuguda for his recent comments on the tragedy.
The deceased, a 27-year- old native of Ogotun Ekiti in Ekiti Southwest Local Government Area of the state, studied Political Science at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye. He was serving in Giade Local Government Council of Bauchi State before he was hacked to death by irate youths during a violent protest.
But Yuguda in an interview with journalists was reported to have said that it was the destinies of the slain corps members to die the way they did.
Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi, in company with his wife, Bisis, his deputy, Mrs. Funmi Olayinka, and other members of his cabinet, could not hold back tears during the church service.
The cleric, who preached at the ceremony, Rev. Billy Adewale of Emmanuel Church Cathedral, Ado-Ekiti also condemned Yuguda for justifying the killing of the NYSC members by saying that he, too, was attacked in Ibadan, Oyo State capital in 1979.
The cleric said that if Yuguda had been killed in Ibadan, certainly he would not have become a governor today.
He said, “So many people have commented on the killing of the corps members, but one of the comments is somehow. And that is from your colleague (turning to Fayemi). He said that he was almost killed as a corps member in Ibadan in 1979. If he had died at that time would he have become a governor today.
“Seun’s glory is cut short. Maybe he would have become a governor or president in the next 15 years.”
He called on the 36 state governors to meet and fashion out a way for the NYSC in order to prevent the loss of lives of its members.
Fayemi, who spoke in an emotion-laden voice, kept asking what offence the deceased committed before some callous people hacked him to death.
During a visit to the family of the deceased in Lagos, the governor said that the state would “take over the responsibilities of Seun’s siblings’ education.”
He said, “ We will find an appropriate monument which will be named in memory of Seun Adewunmi.”
Fayemi said that although compensations and the state burial given the deceased could not bring him back, it was just a way of appreciating his contribution to the nation.
The NYSC Area Coordinator in the South-West, Mr. O. Bisong, said that the electoral history of the country would never be complete without the mention of the names of the corps members who died during the post-election violence.
Fayemi urged the Federal Government not to allow any individual or group to undermine the security of the nation or dent the noble intention behind the establishment of the NYSC Scheme. The governor said that about 215 corps members were evacuated from Bauchi State to prevent further killings of those of them from Ekiti State.
He said, “I received various distressed calls from the indigenes of the state that I should rescue them from Bauchi State. Some of these corps members were holed up in the SSS Training School in the state and we moved quickly to rescue them from the claws of death. Some of them are still around today.”
Source : www.punchng.com
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