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Edo: National President Calls For Police Intervention As Butchers Engage In Gun Duel

Published

4 years ago

December 8, 2021

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President, National Butchers Association, Chief Osamede Adun, has called on Edo State Commissioner of Police, CP Philip Ogbadu, to invite members, Edo State Practicing Butchers Association, before the crisis rocking the crisis rocking the association get out of hand.

His call is coming after the crisis
rocking the association on Wednesday degenerated to shooting amongst members.

Narrating how the shooting‎ occurred, Mr. Sunny Omokaro, a private abattoir operator and member of Edo State Vigilante, said he was returning from work when he saw some young men sent by Akhere Odigie, Chairman of the Practising Butchers Association, to invade his abattoir amid shooting into the air.

He said because he was just returning from his Vigilante duty at the time and having his gun with him at the time, he also fire into the air in reply and immediately called the DPO of New Benin Police Station to report the situation, following which policemen were deployed to the scene but they could not however calm the situation.

He further disclosed that not long after, Odigie led other boys to his abattoir even as the New Benin DPO also arrived and invited the warring parties to the police station‎.

“We wer‎e all invited to the station but the DPO later allowed Akhere and his boys to go because they are with the state government and I have been kept at the station since morning.

“Akhere is fighting me becase I refuse to give‎ him money. He said I should pay him for any cow I slaughter. He determines how many cows are killed in Benin and that is responsible for the high cost meat in Edo”, Omokaro explained.

‎Meanwhile, Chief Adun who decried his name being dragged into the crisis, has expressed shock over the development.

He said, “When I heard that they are fighting, for the past five to six years I have not been part of them and whether they have such a union in Benin here, we don’t know because I am the National President of the National Butchers Union of Nigeria and we have been in existence for over 50 years.(Sic)

“All these that they are dragging my name into it, I don’t understand it, dragging my name and mentioning the governor, I don’t understand them. I have stayed clear of union matters concerning Edo State. (Sic)

“I have called the Commissioner of Police to invite all of us, whether they even know me by my face.
I have slaughter houses here in Benin, they said we should not kill cows and I told my people to comply but as the national president, I have right to kill cow in my private slaughter house but these boys gave an order and I told my people to ensure compliance since they say they are now Practicing Butchers which our union don’t know.

“They know what they are fighting for so government and security agencies should invite them and find out what is going as regards butchers”, Chief Adun added.

Recall that concerned members of the Butchers association on Tuesday appealed to the State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki to remove the purported State Chairman, Mr Akhere Odigie, who they alleged was not a butcher but imposed on the association by government against their wishes, five years ago.

They further alleged that the gross incompetence of Mr Akhere Odigie is costing members millions of naira, to the extent that butchers lose between N80,000 and N120,000 for each cow slaughtered in Benin City on a daily basis.

Besides, they alleged that Mr. Odigie extort monies at gun point from innocent butchers while threatening to close down the abbatoir of those who fail to pay up, boasting that he has the governor’s backing and is above the law.

“Many butchers are also indebted to banks and money lenders, besides the Cattle dealers. While some owe a minimum of N20 million others owe N40 million and above to these Cattle dealers.

“This includes women and even the Hausa people among us. Some have even sold landed properties, lands, houses and vehicles and other valuables to remain in business. Besides, all was well with us before the government imposed Mr Odigie on the association
in violation of the constitution of the Butchers association.

“We know that Odigie claims he is a relative of Governor Obaseki. That was why he imposed him on us. That is also why besides his ignorance of the code of conduct for all butchers since he was never a butcher himself, he has engaged among other illegalities, in high-handedness, abuse of office, extortion, thuggery and intimidation of members.

“Many butchers have left the public slaughter houses because their lives are at risk of the hired thugs who parade the arena daily and on the instructions of Mr. Odigie who bullies and intimidates them. Even the said Odigie regularly goes about with armed thugs and threatens innocent butchers by shooting into the air”, one of the butchers, Hajia Bilikisu Sule alleged‎.

Another butcher, Mr. Ahmadu Muhammad said “In spite of everything going on which is clearly wrong and out of place, the Mr Odigie keeps boasting and telling anyone who cares to listen that, no one can remove them from office because he is a relative of the State Governor.

“The present situation is unacceptable because it has put many individual butchers into huge debts running with Cattle Dealers. Butchers are all operating at a loss with huge investment and zero returns. We want Governor Obaseki to remove Odigie from office and pave the way for the conduct of a proper, open, free and fair election where qualified and competent butchers who have relevant experience can vie for offices.

“As a governor who was democratically elected in a popular election, it is only proper that Governor Obaseki will allow we butchers to benefit from the same democratic process by allowing us to hold a free and fair election to elect competent officials to run our affairs”.

But in his reaction, Odigie who explained that he is in his second term leading the association, described the allegations as lies and politically motivated.

“They are doing that because they have lost their battle. We slaughter cows everyday. I just finished from a meeting now”‎, Odigie said, to debunk the claim that he was not a butcher.

He said his leadership has sanitized the E‎do Butchers Association after breaking away from the National Butchers Association.

Headline

FULL LIST: US To Review Green Cards From 19 ‘Countries Of Concern’ After Washington Shooting

Published

1 day ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it will review the immigration status of all permanent residents, or “Green Card” holders, from Afghanistan and 18 other countries following the attack on National Guard troops in Washington, D.C.

U.S. officials identified the suspect in Wednesday’s shooting as a 29-year-old Afghan national who previously worked alongside American forces in Afghanistan.

The individual was granted asylum earlier this year, not permanent residency, according to AfghanEvac, an organisation that assists Afghans resettled in the United States after the Taliban takeover in 2021.

“I have directed a full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern,” said Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), on X.

The review follows a June executive order from President Trump classifying 19 countries as “of Identified Concern.”

The order banned entry for nearly all nationals from 12 countries, including Afghanistan. The full list of these countries is:

Afghanistan

Myanmar

Chad

Congo-Brazzaville

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Haiti

Iran

Libya

Somalia

Sudan

Yemen

A partial travel ban applies to seven additional countries, though some temporary work visas remain allowed: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Headline

Romanian Defence Minister Quits After Admitting Error In Academic Record

Published

1 day ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

Romania’s defence minister resigned on Friday after saying he made a “mistake” on his CV about his university education, as controversy swirled over alleged lies on his resume.

Ionut Mosteanu – who has admitted to writing on his CV that he graduated from a university he never attended – said he did not want the row “to distract” the NATO member at a time when it and Europe are “under attack from Russia”.

Romania has repeatedly seen drone fragments fall on its soil since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and reported a number of drone incursions.

On Tuesday, a drone crashed in eastern Romania, which borders Ukraine.

Romania has also accused Moscow of “hybrid attacks”, including meddling in presidential elections last year that were subsequently annulled.

“Today, I resigned from my position as minister of national defence,” Mosteanu said in a Facebook post, adding he wanted the country to be focused on its “difficult mission”.

“Romania and Europe are under attack from Russia. Our national security must be defended at all costs,” he added.

Mosteanu had come under pressure after a media investigation published on Thursday revealed that he wrote in a CV that he graduated from a university which he did not actually attend.

That same day he apologised for what he called “a mistake”.

“In a CV I quickly put together in 2016 using a template I found online, there is a mistake that I admit embarrasses me. I didn’t pay much attention to these details at the time,” he said on Facebook.

Mosteanu was appointed defence minister in June of this year, when a new pro-European government was formed after months of political turmoil.

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said in a press release that he would propose economy and tourism minister Radu Miruta take over the defence portfolio in the interim.

AFP

Headline

Russia Insists Ukraine Must Cede Land Or Face Continued Military Push

Published

2 days ago

November 27, 2025

Editor

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he would end his Ukraine offensive if Kyiv withdrew from territory Moscow claims at its own — otherwise his army would take it by force.

The Russian army has been slowly but steadily grinding through eastern Ukraine in costly battles against outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian forces.

Washington has meanwhile renewed its push to end the nearly four-year war, putting forward a surprise plan that it hopes to finalise through upcoming talks with Moscow and Kyiv.

“If Ukrainian forces leave the territories they hold, then we will stop combat operations,” Putin said during a visit to Kyrgyzstan. “If they don’t, then we will achieve it by military means.”

Russia controls around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory. The issue of occupied land, which Kyiv has said it will never cede, is among the biggest stumbling blocks in the peace process.

Another important issue in the talks are Western security guarantees for Ukraine, which Kyiv says are needed to prevent Moscow from invading again in the future.

Washington’s original plan — drafted without input from Ukraine’s European allies — would have seen Kyiv withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region and the United States de facto recognise the Donetsk, Crimea and Lugansk regions as Russian.

The US pared back the original plan over the weekend following criticism from Kyiv and Europe, but has not yet released the new version.

Putin, who has seen the new plan, said it could be a negotiation starter.

“Overall, we agree that it could form the basis for future agreements,” he said of the latest draft, which the US is thought to have shortened to about 20 points.

US negotiator Steve Witkoff was expected in Moscow next week to discuss the revised document, Putin said.

US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is meanwhile due to visit Kyiv later this week, Ukraine’s top presidential aide Andriy Yermak said.

– ‘Little can be done’ –

In his remarks Thursday, Putin repeated the claim that Russia had encircled the Ukrainian army in Pokrovsk and Myrnograd in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region — the most fiercely embattled area and a key target for Moscow’s forces.

“Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov are completely surrounded,” he said, using the Russian names for the cities.

Moscow was also advancing in Vovchansk and Siversk, as well as approaching the important logistic hub of Guliaipole, he added.

The Russian offensive “is practically impossible to hold back, so there is little that can be done about it”, Putin said.

Ukraine has denied Pokrovsk and Myrnograd are encircled, insisting its forces continue to hold the enemy along the front line.

Putin also questioned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s legitimacy and said signing any agreement with him would be legally “almost impossible” at the moment, a suggestion that has drawn groans from Kyiv and its allies.

According to data analysed by AFP from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian forces have conquered an average of 467 square kilometres (180 square miles) each month in 2025 — a step up from 2024.

Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the worst armed conflict in Europe since World War II.

The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.