By Ada Nkong
In response to reports of hardship in Belegete Community occasioned by attacks carried out by a group suspected to be separatists Ambazonians from Cameron, concerned sons and daughters of Cross River North under the aegis of Who is Who in Northern Cross River, an apolitical group have donated relief materials to the Belegete Community.
The outreach which was done on Christmas day had representatives like Chief Dr DC Enamhe convener, Dr Isaac Ishamali ,Mr John Okom, Mr Roland Ugeh, Dr Mrs Martina Ntino and Dr Mrs Mary Ogbeche in attendance.
Hundreds of blankets, over 300 tubers of yams, bags of rice and garri were handed over to the community. These items were purchased with money donated by members of the group including but not limited to elderstatesmen like Sen Kanu Agabi, Sen Musa Adede, Justice Emmanuel Agim, which has in its membership past and present leaders of Cross River North extraction.
Recall that Senator Musa Adede had visited the community before and made donations after the member representing Obanlikwu, Bekwarra and Obudu Peter Akpanke visited them.
Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe representing Northern Cross River senatorial district and also a member of the group had on the eve of Christmas visited the group and donated the sum of two million naira and fifty bags of rice.
The group called on President Bola Tinubu, Dr Beta Edu,NEMA, SEMA and all relevant agencies to come to the aid of the people of Belegete.
Responding, the representatives of Belegete community including the Clan Head, HRH Chief Sunday Ichile, Village Head : Chief John Abraham, Community Leader, Mr C. K. Aondo and Youth leader, Comrade Eyos Kelvin. which had lost its Chief,were full of prayers and appreciation for Who is Who.
“We are very happy because if not that it is a burial as our chief died, that is why you see me on this attire.
But we are happy and we greet you people. As you people are going, go in peace.
The vehicle that brought you up will definitely take you down successfully in Jesus name.
We thank you so much, go in peace. We wish you people to be watching us because the terrain is difficult”.
Another representative also thanking the team, outlined the primary challenges of the people.
“On behalf of the community of Belegete we don’t have anything to give to you but we are sending our prayers through you to the Yala people, Ogoja people, Bekwarra people, Obudu people and Obanlikwu people. We pray that God that has given them this ability, this mind to come and help their brothers like this, God should multiply what you have given in hundred folds”.
“We also want our brothers to know that we have challenges, we are disadvantaged. It is because of this our disadvantage that the enemy, those terrorists have come in and destroyed our community. One of those is access road. We are in the bush that is why they can just come in on their own, do whatever they want to do and go back free.No access road, no security, no network that we can even connect ourselves to the world so we are praying that our brothers should help is to cry to government”.
They also lamented the absence of access to medical care which they said had claimed the lives of two young men just the day before.They also lamented the lack of security check in boder communities between Nigeria and Cameroon right up to Adamawa making it easy for the communities to be attacked.
See full message to the people of Belegete below :
A Solidarity Message By Who is Who in Cross River North
Good morning, dear brothers and sisters of Belegete. We bring you warm compliments of the Yuletide season from your brothers from other parts of Obanliku LGA and from Obudu, Bekwara, Ogoja and Yala, the other 4 LGAs that make up Cross River State North.
We have come not as politicians or government people, and not even as the conventional NGOs supported and funded by big donors for this kind of humanitarian work. We have come only as representatives of your brothers and sisters from Obanliku to Yala, young and old, professionals, working class and retired people, your brothers and sisters engaged in different jobs and businesses around the World and within Nigeria who have come together outside politics to think and talk as a united people for the common good and advancement of the peoples and communities of Cross River North Senatorial District. We are representatives of the group currently known as Who is Who in Cross River North. It is a group that has just been birthed and is still evolving.
It was in the course of setting up this nascent group that news broke of the baseless, mindless, and savage attack on you, our brothers and sisters of Belegete. We heard of how your homes were burnt down, people savaged , your beloved Chief brutally murdered and your farms plundered for no just cause. We were and remain scandalized by this kind of unprovoked hostility.
We condemn in the strongest of terms this bestial and horrendous attack. It is painfully ironic that the brigands who conducted this brutality are people whose kith and kin you have sheltered and given succour since their domestic crisis in the Cameroons rendered them homeless.
Indeed, the whole of Cross River North has been quite hospitable to their people since they sought refuge amongst us for several years today. This is a classical case of one biting the finger that feeds him.
Nevertheless, we urge you to remain peaceful and stoic in the true character of Northern Cross Riverians. We beseech you to continue to conduct yourselves in a civil manner and look up to government to bring this rampage to a halt and create an enabling environment for you to return to your homes to live in peace and pursue your businesses and dreams as law abiding people.
May we note with dismay the lethargic manner governments at all levels have responded to this crisis. It is regrettable that in the face of an international crisis such as this which threatens the territorial integrity of our country, the response of the Federal Govt has been tragically slow and sluggish. As we speak, neither soldiers nor any other security forces are on ground in Belegete. So the place remains open to be further ravaged and plundered by that marauding band of Ambazonia terrorists from Cameroon.
In fact, even NEMA, the national intervention agency in crisis like this one is not yet on ground in Belegete more than 2 weeks after our people were savagely brutalized, chased out of their homes, and rendered destitute without food and shelter.
We are reasonably sure that this kind of lethargy in responding to the crisis could not have occured if it were anywhere else other than in Cross River State.
The people of Cross River North Senatorial District deprecate in vehement terms the apparent neglect of the welfare and interest of Cross River State by the Federal Government. We fear that it was this kind of attitude that led to the ceding of Bakasi to Cameroon a few years back with the attendant displacement of our people and colossal loss of revenue to the State. We of the Cross River North wish to stress that we would not, under any circumstances, cede any inch of our ancestral homes to anyone, groups or country.
We therefore implore Mr. President to urgently direct the Military and relevant agencies to pay attention to the crisis in Belegete not only to ensure that no inch of our land is lost , but also to guarantee that our people are restored to their homes and they resume living peacefully in their community duly protected by our national security agencies as it is the case in all our international boundaries.
We consider it imperative to also call on the Cross River State Government and the State Emergency Management Agency, particularly, to deploy men and materials to Belegete to address this emergency to ameliorate the hardship our people are going through at the moment as a result of the mindless destruction of their homes and property.
May we end by assuring you, our brothers and sisters of Belegete that the people of Cross River North that we represent stand with you and share your agony and shall continue to identify with you every step of the way until this crisis is fully resolved.
In this regard, it is pertinent to state that this intervention is just the first phase. Your brothers and sisters under the auspices of Who is Who in Cross River North are still pooling funds together from far and near to help you. We are therefore optimistic that early in the new year we shall be back here to carry out the next phase of the intervention to address some specific needs that may arise from our interaction with you today.
Once again, we bring you sympathy and warm compliments from your brothers and sisters across the length and breadth of Cross River North Senatorial District, from those at home as well as those in diaspora.
We consider this crisis most unfortunate and it is our hope and prayer that the crisis will be resolved quickly so that you will all return to your homes and reorganise your lives.
We wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Signed :
HRH Chief Mrs Martina Odom Chairman
Prof Joseph Ushie Alt.Chairman
Prof John Undie Secretary
Chief Dr Peter Ojie
D.C Enamhe
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