From KASSIDY UCHENDU, Nsukka
In recent times, Aji community in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State has witnessed an unprecedented upsurge in crime. Since December 2012, three youths of the community have been killed by suspected ritualists. The worrisome thing about the killings was that the vital parts of the victims were removed by the unknown killers raising apprehension among the villages that ritual killers are on the prowl in their community.
Worried by this trend, the women of Aji, led by Mrs Amaka Urama, a school teacher and chairman of the Catholic Women Organization (CWO), staged a peaceful protest in the community, demanding an immediate end to the killings and the dissolution of the community’s vigilante, which they feared has been infiltrated by criminals and politicians, who want to use the members to achieve their political end.
They alleged that the chairman of the vigilante, Mr. Joseph Azegbe and the counsellor of the area had used masquerades to harass and intimidate them in efforts to stop their protest. At the end of the peaceful protest witnessed by the police, the army and officers of the State Security Services (SSS), Mrs. Urama spoke to Daily Sun. •
The chairman of Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area Mr. Onuh, the traditional ruler of Aji, Igwe Itodo and the Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation Mr. Goddy Ogenyi who approves vigilante group’s formation also spoke to Daily Sun. Mrs Urama My name is Mrs Amaka Urama, the leader of Aji Women Forum (AMF).
We had gathered ourselves together to cry out to the government, the chairman of Igbo-Eze North LGA, the traditional ruler of Aji and all the community stakeholders that we are no longer comfortable with the escalating crime rate in Aji. Our sons are being killed in mysterious circumstances. The killings started after the previous vigilante was dissolved.
Since then, we have lost three of our children. Before the dissolution our town was peaceful and our Igwe, His Royal Highness Simeon Osisi Itodo even received an award as the most security conscious traditional ruler in the South-East. We don’t know what happened and control of the vigilante was maneuvered out of his hand by some evil-minded politicians who have vaulting ambition to rule.
Those who were killed have their vital parts removed. They are Festus Idoko, Ndubuisi A and Uche Nwaossai who was killed and his body stuffed into his father’s water tank. As mothers who carry these children nine months in our wombs, we are tired of passing through these avoidable gory and horrible experiences.
We want a stop to it. The way it can be stopped is easy and that is the dissolution of the vigilante which has been hijacked by a highly placed civil servant (name withheld) who is running the vigilante through his cronies as a personal enterprise to achieve his political ambition using the blood of our children.
Our Igwe is the chief security officer of the community and should be allowed to choose the chairman of the vigilante. When he was in control, there was no crime in Aji. We want the status quo restored. This is why we are protesting. Some people don’t want us to protest and used over 200 masquerades to harass and intimidate us. We are surprised that our councilor is behind this.
The civil servant I was telling you about sent some of his thugs to my house to warn me not to mobilize the women for protest or else I will be killed. But I was undaunted. If I die because of a noble cause, I have no regrets; God will receive me in His paradise. But let it be known that if I die, the top civil servant now remote-controlling the vigilante should be held responsible. We want security in Aji to be tight to prevent these killings. We are surprised that some of these dements loyal to the civil servant are against our demand for tighter security in Aji. Why are they saying we should not protest the killings?
Do they have skeletons in their cupboards? Our sons are being killed and their private parts removed and people are saying we should not protest. I wonder, we have support of 99 per cent of well-meaning and concerned Aji people. Only one per cent of the people are against us.
We had asked the police that they brought to stop us to ask those that brought them why they want the killings to continue. We are for peace. We are copying from our leader, Patience, wife of Goodluck Jonathan who has gathered African women in quest of peace in Africa. We are just replicating her activities in our community.
We salute every Aji citizen who supports us. Anybody who is against us should be watched by security agents, the government. We are law abiding, we are harmless, we have no arms, we are only crying out for the salvation of Aji. We are praying God to have mercy on Aji as we women are agents of creation by God.
All Aji women are united in this common cause irrespective of age, economic status, religious difference or creed. We will fight until we restore peace in Aji and the killings stopped. Before the peaceful protest, I informed the police, the army, the local government chairman, the Igwe, the elders-in-council, the councilor representing us, and the vigilante. The chairman of the local government is not against us. He is worried that these kinds of atrocities in Aji are happening in his LGA.
He even lost his own brother in the ongoing killings in the area. Aji monarch, Igwe Osisi Itodo Our problems started after the former vigilante was dissolved in December 2011. Before now, the community was very peaceful.
We had an election, but I was surprised to see that the names the community sent to the Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation were substituted. Only half was approved by the commissioner, while another half presented by Engr. Atigwe unliterary was also approved. Between December 2011 and now crime has been on the rise here and three of our children were killed with their vital organs removed.
We are worried about this and want urgent stop to this ugly trend. I demand immediate dissolution of the present vigilante so that those we can trust the security of Aji into their hands can be appointed. It is very doubtful if the upsurge in crime in the community is a mere co-incidence since the dissolution of the former vigilante.
We are living in the village and as such, we are in a better position to know who to trust the security of the community into their hands. The apprehension of the women should be addressed. They should be encouraged in their noble effort to rid the community of criminality and restore it to its former position of a community where peace reign and crime minimised. Chairman of the LG, Mr Bonaventure Onuh The crime rate in Aji is worrisome.
The local government is concerned about the deteriorating crime situation in Aji. My own brother, a staff of the local government, was a victim. He was hacked to death while coming to work. I decided to hand over the matter to God since the actual killers of my brother could not be traced. I did not want a situation where innocent persons will be made to suffer for the crime of another.
The local government is planning to hold a crusade for Aji, we will not hesitate to dissolve any vigilante found to be performing beyond expectation or incapable of protecting the lives of the people. When contacted the Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation in the state, Mr Goddy Ogenyi feigned ignorance of the Aji problem, saying “I don’t know what you are talking about,” and advised the reporter, adding that “whatever you want, put it down in writing and bring it to the Government House and we will study it.”
http://sunnewsonline.com/new/national/day-of-rage-as-enugu-women-protest-mysterious-deaths-of-sons/
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