Herdsmen: FG lied, Ogun refugees still in Benin Republic – Red Cross

The Nigerian Red Cross Society on Friday says contrary to the Federal Government’s claim that Ogun refugees have left Benin Republic, the victims of herdsmen attacks are still displaced in the francophone West African country.

The Ogun State Executive Branch Secretary of the humanitarian group, Oluwole Aboyade, stated this in an interview with The PUNCH.

Some residents of the Yewa area of Ogun State were recently forced to seek refuge in Benin Republic following attacks by herdsmen who invaded their villages and unleashed unprintable horror on them.

The PUNCH also visited some of the Ogun refugees in Benin Republic where they narrated their ordeal including how herdsmen burnt their children and their houses and how they had scampered for safety in the wake of the attacks.

The displaced persons are from Agbon-Ojodu, Moro, Asa, Ibeku and other villages in the Yewa Local Government Area of Ogun State.

The Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had said the Nigerian Embassy officials, who visited the communities where the people were taking shelter, were informed that they had returned to their communities in Nigeria.

The Director of Consular Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bolaji Akinremi, had said, “Our mission visited the villages mentioned and met with rulers, but was told that those who came as a result of the crisis had returned after a few days. So, no Nigerian refugee was found in Benin Republic. In line with the various media reports and the reported National Assembly directive for NEMA to bring them back home, the MFA will be willing to support as appropriate.”

But speaking in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Friday, the Red Cross official, lamented that it was unfortunate that the government was playing politics with human lives.

Aboyade, who said his team was still in Benin Republic on Saturday to distribute relief items to the Ogun refugees, said the displaced persons are still in the francophone country as of the time of filing this report. Punch