We were inch close to death - Relocated corps member

A corps member with various degrees of injuries

THE pictures are shocking and heart-gripping. Yet, they depict the reality of the times we now live in.  Following the post-election violence which engulfed Bauchi and some other Northern states in which many people including serving  members killed, the Ekiti State government evacuated about 200 of its citizens serving in parts of the North. One of the serving corps members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), recruited by the nation’s electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), were killed who came within the whiskers of death is Adenipekun A. Adeyemi, an indigene of Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area of Ekiti State. In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, he narrated his experience, saying that ever since he found out that he was being deployed to Bauchi State, he had been engrossed in thought regarding how he would cope, living so far away from home.

"I felt sad because I have been hearing a lot about the problems in the Northern part of Nigeria. In fact, for almost three days I could not sleep when I heard that I was posted to Bauchi. Initially when I saw the first two letters, BA... I thought it was Bayelsa, but unfortunately it was not Bayelsa but Bauchi,” he said.

When asked whether he made any attempt to influence his posting before or after he found out he replied,"Yes, I did but it was not successful. At the camp in Bauchi, I still made another attempt to get re-deployed but they asked for a medical report which I did not have.”

Adenipekun's frustration could be felt as he recounted his ordeal. He called on the Federal Government to take a decisive action on the NYSC scheme as he lamented that no amount of words or reasons could justify the brutal and barbaric killings of the corps members during the elections.

Adenipekun Adeyem

“The NYSC should be scrapped because I don’t think the aims and objectives of the scheme are still being achieved. As you can see, we call ourselves Nigerians but we corps members are being killed in Bauchi and other parts of the Northern states for no just cause. So I think the objectives of the scheme has been defeated and, therefore, it should be scrapped or be re-designed in such a way that indigenes of a particular zone should be made to serve in their geo-political zones", he said.

When asked how the crisis started, he broke into tears.

"It all started on Saturday during the presidential election,” he recounted.  “We got reports that a corp members had been killed in Bauchi. My Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) assignment was at Darazo Local Government Area, which is about two hours’ drive from Bauchi, but I left the place on Sunday morning. To my greatest surprise, after about two hours that I left, the Corpers’ Lodge there was attacked. We learnt that another corps member had also been killed at Dambam.

When asked what could have motivated the killings, he replied, "They said corps members were not cooperating with them. In my ward, after the exercise, the hoodlums would ask us to bring out the remaining voter’s cards; that we should allow them to thumbprint for the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) presidential candidate, but we disagreed with them.”

Narrating how he escaped, he continued,"When I was posted to Bauchi town, I was lecturing in the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi. But where I stayed in Bauchi was attacked on Tuesday evening. In fact, I was only in my boxers, nothing more. No shoes, no slippers, no top or singlet. That night, I could not sleep. I don’t pray to experience such again. During the attack, we all went in different directions. On Wednesday morning, there was a call that every corps member should come to the SSS training school.”

“The state coordinator of NYSC there went to the local governments on a rescue mission with some soldiers. They were bringing the corps members to the SSS training school. They told us to call every other corps member and tell them to find their way to the training school. So most of us called ourselves by phone and that was how we all converged there.”

“We spent five days there before the Ekiti State government evacuated us home. In fact, we were leaving in fear at the training camp because in Bauchi, bomb is like a toy. They just throw it anywhere and anyhow. There was this fear that bomb could be thrown at us because they were looking for us to be killed, and with us being camped in one place. So it is easier for them to get at us. We were fed very well. But I did not eat anything on my first day because of the crowd, the hustling for food and other things.”

Another corps member with various degrees of injuries

Also, when Nigerian Tribune enquired how they were able to make contact with the Ekiti State government, a tearful Adenipekun said that as the leader of the Ekiti State indigenes, he was fortunate to be able to make contact with the governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi. He said that immediately the governor heard about their situation, he directed  Adenipekun to the director of the State Security Service (SSS) in Bauchi, because he (the governor) had spoken with him. The director of the SSS then asked Adenipekun to go and find out the number of Ekiti State indigenes corp members and they were over 200.

"The reason for communicating with the governor was that the Osun State government had earlier brought a bus to convey its indigenes. When we heard that, everybody was just making frantic efforts to contact their state government. To our greatest surprise, three coaster buses with a big lorry was sent to us to evacuate us to Ekiti."

"I want to use this opportunity to say a very big thank you to the  governor of Ekiti State, Governor Kayode Fayemi, for his gesture and love. A governor in the South-West, I would not like to mention his name, when contacted, told his people that they should look for a way to come down to their state. The state is not too far from Ekiti. So I will like to thank Governor Fayemi for his fatherly care, for his love for us. On getting to Ekiti, every corps member, including the non-indigenes, because we carried some of these other corp members whose governor refused to evacuate. On getting to the Government House, the governor gave every one of us N5,000 for transportation to our destinations. Besides, we were accommodated in a very nice hotel for that night.

When asked when he would be returning to Bauchi to serve his fatherland, Adenipekun burst into laughter, saying, "I don’t think I will be going back. To be sincere, if you see what is happening there and see how corps members were being murdered, slaughtered, matcheted and clubbed to death, you would not pray for us to go back there. My parents would not even allow me to go back there.”

Source : www.tribune.com.ng