Trouble Over Late Militant Leader John Togo’s Secret Burial
Trouble is brewing over the secret burial of late John Togo, founder of the
defunct, Niger Delta Liberation Force (NDLF) at the Warri Cemetery last
Thursday, after being killed in a battle with the security outfit in May
2011.
The secret burial was immediately condemned by the Ijaw People Development
Initiative (IPDI) through their leader, Comrade Austin Ozobo and Ayakoromo
youths led by Comrade Ebi Wayas who termed the secret burial sacrilegious and
unacceptable.
In a four paragraph text to Saturday Vanguard, the group also vowed to pursue
a legal means to ensuring that his remains be released to his community for
proper burial.
Yesterday, NDLF former spokesman, Capt. Mark Anthony condemned the secret
burial and stated that the JTF would on their own come and beg the Ijaw people
to exhume the remains of John Togo for proper burial with a cost of N2billion.
He said, “A major Ijaw person’s corpse like John Togo’s cannot be buried
outside Ijaw land. The public cemetery in Agbasa, where he was secretly buried
is in Urhobo land. Those who have buried him secretly should ask those who
buried Adaka Boro in a foreign land what happened. Didn’t the government later
exhume his body for his burial in Bayelsa?
“We don’t want to confront them (JTF) but we want to warn that they cannot
bury John Togo in a foreign land. We could have forcefully removed the corpse
from the central hospital, but we didn’t want innocent people to be killed in
the crossfire.
“Quote me anytime. JTF will come and beg us to come and exhume his body, the
N2billion that was demanded for his burial will also be paid. When they killed
Boko Haram members they paid heavily for their burial, so John Togo case will
not be different.
“Togo was a warrior, he was killed not in a battle, the security people came
and raided the place while he was sleeping. We will not fight them, we won’t
do anything but they will come and beg us to exhume it.”
On his part, Comrade Ozobo, a relative of Togo, said the ex-militant leader
was a freedom fighter, who fought for the emancipation of his people and also
embraced amnesty initiated by the Federal Government.
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