Women and youths in over 100 of the Ihie autonomous communities in the Ivo local government area of Ebonyi 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 their arrest and are usually whisked away to an unknown destination.
Expressing their anger, the protesters said that just a few days ago, a palace chief, Chief Nwabuikwu Odoemenam, was whisked away by unknown persons, which created palpable fear in the community. Members of the immediate family and the community could not give an account of his whereabouts.
They maintained that several hours after the palace chief was taken away, there was no communication, which caused the community to express fear for his safety.
The protesters carried placards with inscriptions like, “We don’t know the whereabouts of Chief Emmanuel Ajah.” “Please resolve the land dispute in the Ihie autonomous community,” “Gov Nwifuru, please call those using their offices to intimidate our people to order,” “We don’t want any bloodshed in the 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 unclear where Chief Odoemenam was taken to and called on the state governor, Chief Francis Nwifuru, to urgently intervene in the land dispute before it degenerated 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 Governor Francis Nwifuru’s attention to the high level of intimidation and harassment being perpetrated by a few individuals under the watch of the council chairman.
“The governor needs to intervene urgently on the matter before it escalates. We had expected that our council chairman, Chief Emmanuel Ajah, would have taken a bold step in resolving the dispute before now, but he has not shown any political will to address the issue,” he said.
“He has neither called for a meeting nor invited interested parties to discuss the issue. Instead, he has continued pretending that all is well when he knows all is not. If he doesn’t have the political will to call for a roundtable meeting to discuss the issue, then let the Ministry of Border Peace and Conflict Resolution take over the matter.
“Our fear is that if nothing is done urgently to resolve the dispute, it might result in 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 the crisis in the local government should have a change of mind. The deaths of people in Ivo are not worth any political office or wealth being acquired,” he added.
When contacted, the traditional ruler of the Ihie Autonomous Community Ishiagu Ivo LGA, Eze Gabriel Okoro, stated that when he was approached 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 information of the policemen who came from Force CID Abuja to arrest the chief. So, it wasn’t a case of kidnap but an arrest,” he explained.
