A strong and influential member of a notorious terrorist and gang leader late Terwase Akwaza AKA Gana, who identified himself as ‘Major’ in the group has disclosed that the battle continues even as their leader is no more.
He said that late Gana had a premonition that he was going to die and handed over all his powers to the next person to him in the gang before coming out to embrace the amnesty at the Akume Atongo stadium in Katsina-Ala.
Major who gave his other name as Aondehemba spoke exclusively in Tiv language to our Correspondent in Keffi on Friday evening while he was heading to Abuja to console the wife of the late gang leader, whom they all regarded as their mother.
“We warned him not to come out, we told him that the said amnesty was a ploy to get him, he agrees with us but said he has made up his mind to surrender and that he was tired of staying in the bush.
“He told us that he was coming out from the bush to honour the Bishop of Gboko , Bishop William Aveyam and Senator Gabriel Suswam, he said that these two respected personalities have been mounting pressure on him in the last three months to come out and embrace peace and that he has made up his mind to embrace peace”
He said that Gana was an empire as he had trained over 200 of them spread across Benue North East and some part of Taraba “it is a battalion, we are many and have a very strong network, Gana was a leader that cares so much about us.
“On that very day, he assembled us in the morning in the bush and addressed us, he directed us on what to do if he did not return alive, he told us that if his coming out is a set up, the battle should continue but if it is with genuine intentions, he will want us to lay down our arms,” he said.
He explained that severally, Bishop Aveyam will call Gana on phone and preach the words of God to him “I can tell you that Gana accepted Christ before his death, he had planned to be baptized by the Bishop after the amnesty, he had even discussed wedding one of his wife in the church,he was actually tired of what he was doing.
“I was among the five gang stars that disappeared in the convoy when the army stopped us in Gboko, our vehicle was following the official car of the Local government chairman that was conveying Gana to Makurdi
“Gana could not disappear because he had already handed over his powers to the second commander before embarking on that ill-fated journey to Makurdi
“His intention was to come back from Makurdi and make sure that peace returned permanently in Sankara (Logo, Ukum, Katsina Ala LGAs) and Suswam had assured him of full support,” he said.
He said Gana was serious about the second amnesty and was committed to return peace to the area “he had told us that one of the things he intends to say in Makurdi was to plead with Governor Ortom to forgive him and re-aasure him of peace in Benue”
He said that Gana had super natural powers derived from his 12 years old daughter that he buried alive 11 years ago in his village in Gbitse “that is why he was very powerful, and those powers are still intact because he gave them to someone very close to him.”
“So the military can’t contend Gana forces, but they got him easy because he yielded to Bishop Aveyam and Senator Suswam, today the military are celebrating, why can’t they trace and kill Gana on their own, they tried it for five years and it didn’t work
“Gana was in his village in Gbitse when he was declared wanted, the military kept coming, most times they will meet him but won’t know he is the one, he kept welcoming them to Gbitse any time they come looking for him, why didn’t they get him then” he said
He said, “All I can tell you is that Gana is no more but his spirit is still very much alive, he gave us directive on what to do in case he died, at the moment, we are mourning our leader, we need to console his wife and the children he left behind,” he said.