OBINNA UCHENDU AAbakiliki
The Member Representing Ohaozara, Onicha, and Ivo federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon Nkemkanma Kama has debunked the allegation that he was the mastermind of the Mining crisis in Amaeze Community that led to the unfortunate death of a policeman.
It would be recalled that there was aq disagreement between the Nigeria Police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps NSCDC which led to the death of a Police officer.
Hon Kama said that the crisis started following the rejection of Hephzibah and Beulah company for the mining business by the community but expressed the regret that the company forced themselves on the community, which led to the crisis.
“How did I cause the crisis in Amaeze, how? There was a meeting the community held last Saturday over the mining issue, and I pleaded with the community to allow Hephzibah and Beulah company to come in, and they said they don’t want the company.
“At a point, we then said anyone who is supporting the company to operate in the community should queue up, and it was under the rain. My brother, not even a single person queued behind Pastor Nathan, the owner of this Hephzibah and Beulah company. The videos of everything that day are there for everybody to see.
“We then asked the man, ‘Will you go and work in Sambisa forest?’ and he said no, and we asked him, ‘Why do you want to go and work in a place where people don’t want you to come in?’
“I told him, since it is like this, I want you to quickly tell me how much you have spent in this transaction to ensure you don’t lose so that there will be peace. He refused this offer,” Kama said.
Meanwhile, a survivors of the clash between men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and a team of policemen in Ebonyi State while narrating how his ordeal and escape blamed the clash and the eventual death of the man on what he called “overzealousness and a Gestapo-style” operation displayed by the policemen.
He maintained that the action of the police was not only unprofessional but lacked the barest minimum of standard operating procedures.
The survivor, Mr. Chukwu Ajah, who escaped bullet wounds during the incident alleged that the village Chairman collected money from another miner who owns a company called Palladum and Zottmann in other areas in Ishiagu and promised to give him the site, which is legally owned by Hephzibah and Beulah, who have an operating licence.
Both the village Chairman and the Honourable member of the House of Representatives, Hon Kama Nkemkanma, said they don’t want the rightful owner of the licence, Pastor Dr Nathan.
Hon Kama was told that the consent of a quarry or mining company is irrevocable and that the man (Pastor Nathan) has a valid licence, and therefore they should allow the man to carry out his operations.
“Kama and his group refused. We heard he had called the Oga of NSCDC that they should withdraw the officers at the site, and you know that mining is under them,” he claimed.
