Obinna Uchendu Abakaliki
Women and youths numbers over 100 of Ihie autonomous community in Ivo Local Government Area of the State have staged a peaceful protest over what they described as illegal and unlawful arrest, intimidation and harassment of the people of the community.
The protesters said that some highly placed individuals from the community are using their position to intimidate members of the community, order for their arrest and are usually whisked away to an unknown destination.
Expressing their anger, the protesters said that just few days ago, a Palace Chief, Chief Nwabuikwu Odoemenam was whisked away by unknown persons which created palpable fear in the community as members of the immediate family and the community could not give account of his way about.
They maintained that several hours after the palace Chief was taken away, there was no communication which made the community to expressed fear of his safety.
The protesters carried placards with inscriptions like, “We don’t know the way about of our Chief. Chief Emmanuel Ajah, Pls resolve the land Dispute in Ihie autonomous community. Gov Nwifuru, pls call those using their offices to intimidate our people to order, We don’t want any bloodshed in Ihie Community, among others.
The protesters who staged the peaceful protest in the community expressed their displeasure over the use of some policemen from the Force Headquarters to whisk away Chief Odoemenam to an unknown destination.
They maintained that it was not clear where Chief Odoemenam was taken to and called on the State Governor Chief Francis Nwifuru to urgently intervene in the land Dispute before it degenerate into a full scale crisis.
One of the protesters who spoke to journalists, Mr. Johnson Ajah said that they were surprised that the palace Chief was whisked away without any reference to his family members adding that they had expressed fear that the Chief was abducted.
“They came to the community and whisked one of the palace Chiefs away to an unknown destination. We had to stage this peaceful protest to draw the attention of the State Governor, Francis Nwifuru to the high level of intimidation and harassment being perpetrated by some few individuals under the watch of the Council Chairman.
There is the need for the State Governor’s urgent intervention on the matter before it escalates. We had expected that before now our Council Chairman, Chief Emmanuel Ajah would have taken a bold step in resolving the dispute but from the look of things, he has not shown any political will towards addressing the issue.
He has neither called for a meeting or invited interested parties to discuss the issue but rather he has continued to pretend that all is well when he knows all is not well. If he doesn’t have the political will to call for a round table meeting to discuss the issue, then let the Ministry of Boarder Peace and Conflict Resolution take over the matter.
Our fear is that if nothing is done urgently to resolved the dispute, it might result to a more serious crisis. Those who are instigating the crisis should be called to order. We don’t want to witness another crisis in Ivo LGA. Those who are benefiting from crisis in the local government should have a change of mind. The deaths of people in Ivo is not worth any political office or wealth being acquired.
When Contacted, the Traditional Ruler of Ihie Autonomous Community Ishiagu Ivo LGA, Eze Gabriel Okoro stated that when he was contacted on the alleged kidnap of a Palace Chief from ndiokoroukwu, Chief Odoemenam he immediately went to the Ivo Police Division for help.
On getting to the station, I met with the Divisional Police Officer DPO, I was told that the Chief was arrested by policemen from the Force CID Abuja. The DPO gave me the contact of the police men that came from force CID Abuja to arrest the chief. So it wasn’t a case of kidnap but an arrest.
The Traditional Ruler appealed to the people of the community to remain calm and call on the State Governor, Francis Nwifuru to call to order the same group of people creating the crisis in his kingdom to order.
“The same group of people that are harassing everybody in my community now started the problem with me as the king and now they have extended the problem to my subjects who have lived in this our community peacefully for over five decades.
