Group laments as septuagenarian spends two weeks in kidnappers’ den

Yagba Action Neighborhood (YAG), a non-income, non-partisan organisation essentially based utterly utterly in Kogi Issue, has lamented the government’s teach of no activity following the kidnapping of great livestock farmer, Chief Ajayi Bello, about two weeks within the past.

Ajayi Bello, frail 72, is Chairman, Kogi Issue Poultry Affiliation, by extension, Poultry Affiliation of Nigeria.
His abduction from his farm in Ponyan, Yagba East Local Council in Kogi Issue, has despatched shockwaves by the agricultural community in Nigeria.

A assertion to this quit develop into once launched on Monday, June 30, 2025 and signed by the Chairman of the community, Tunde Olusunle, PhD, an Adjunct Professor of Ingenious Writing on the College of Abuja. YAG contended that the federal and teach governments own over and over failed Nigerians, whose minimum desire is spherical-the-clock security to enable them to pursue their vocations.

Ajayi Bello retired from Guinness Nigeria Ltd, a predominant Nigerian beverage production misfortune, just a few decade within the past, and returned to his birthplace, Ponyan, the assign aside he established an ultramodern livestock industrial. It has been steered that the endeavor engages about 200 informal workers who largely harvest and form eggs from the venture. Bello’s clientele extends beyond Kogi Issue, to neighbouring Kwara, Ekiti and Ondo states.

YAG expressed fears about the sad reality of what it termed the “systematic and properly-organised belief by Fulani, funded by faceless agents to displace Yagba and Okun of us and derive over their land. The community extra stated that retaining a particular person of 72 years, whose household confirmed is both diabetic and tending to prostate concerns, for this prolonged is most disheartening. They assume about to the continuing remand of Ajayi Bello by his abductors corrupt, while calling out the Kogi Issue govt for unattainable inertia.

The community expressed deep misfortune about the safety and security of the septuagenarian farmer, contending that Kogi Issue governor, Usman Ododo, and agents of govt can no longer support sealed lips, and need to expedite wander to rescue the senior citizen.

The community went extra to teach that failure of govt to supply protection to or derive the finest actions in scenarios love this erodes the boldness of the citizenry who own dedicated their lives to serving the nation. That he remains in captivity two weeks after his abduction, with seemingly shrimp effort from the government to real his release, it infamous, is a reminder of the vulnerability of rural communities to banditry and kidnapping. YAG echoed the voices of enthusiastic farmers within the gap who own alleged they've yet to learn any official release from the Kogi Issue Commissioner of Agriculture, the Minister of Agriculture, the All Farmers Affiliation of Nigeria (AFAN) and even the Cattle Farmers’ Associations, on the enchancment.

In a linked construction, Dayo Thomas, a senior journalist and farmer from Yagba, in a assertion trending on the social media titled ” Neighborhood in Disaster: Why Kidnapped Farmer, Chief Ajayi Bello Desires National Consideration,” has warned Nigerian authorities that Pa Bello’s abduction has a ways-reaching implications for the agricultural sector in Nigeria.

He talked about, “Chief Bello’s abduction is no longer staunch a native enviornment. It has a ways-reaching implications for the agricultural sector in Nigeria. As an overwhelming resolve within the industrial, his security and security are an crucial to asserting the boldness of farmers and patrons. The thought of his community, Ponyan, and surrounding areas dwelling in difficulty and dismay, hesitant to tend to their farms, is a dire prospect. How fabricate we style out food insecurity when farmers and their flowers are seemingly to be no longer real? I chase the government to derive instantaneous wander to handle the safety challenges facing rural communities.

Persevering with, Thomas infamous that “Farmers are the spine of our economy, and it's the government’s responsibility to supply protection to them. We have to rethink security in our villages and communities, which nearly feed our metropolis centres. What belief does govt in any admire ranges own for farmers kidnapped from their farms or whose flowers had been destroyed? The answer to those questions will resolve the intention in which forward for agriculture in Nigeria. The kidnapping of

Chief Ajayi Bello is a be-careful demand all stakeholders within the agricultural sector. We need to diagram collectively to inquire wander from the government to guarantee the safety and security of farmers and their flowers.” The destiny of food security and the livelihoods of millions of Nigerians depend on the sustenance of a convenient environment for agriculture, slash or pastoral, Thomas infamous.