Once more, on Monday, more than a hundred women from the Ogwuaniocha community in the Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State marched around the city and its surroundings to express their disapproval of the opposition groups’ “incessant killings, abductions, and destructions of their husbands and sons.”
The women claimed that the kingship dispute was the cause of the community’s crisis as they marched around the neighborhood while brandishing signs with various slogans.
They called on the state governor, Chukwuma Soludo, to come to their rescue to put an end to their current plight.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, their leader, Augustina Ejiofor, said, “My husband, Sunday Ejiofor, was abducted by some youths when we went to sympathise with a relation that was bitten by a snake.
“Also my husband’s brother was arrested by the same youths and is now at Awkuzu SARS. They did not commit any offence. The problem in the community is lgweship/oil revenue derivation. Our monarch, Igwe Okwudili Ogana, is now in detention, they started to attack him when he was installed as our monarch.
“We are pleading for the release of our abducted husbands and for them to stop killing our sons and destroying our property, we ran to camps where we have stayed for about three years without help and they are still coming to abduct us there daily.”
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Also contributing, the wife of the rival traditional ruler of the community, Ebele Ogana, said, “They started attacking my husband after his installation. The government should come to our rescue because the intimidation is much.
“I urge Governor Soludo to prevail on the youth to release the husbands of those women and stop attacking us and killing our sons.”
In her reaction, ljeoma Elumeziegbo, whose husband, including her son-in-law was also abducted said she had not set her eyes on them since they were abducted a few weeks ago.
Elumeziegbo said, “At a point, our President-General, and the warring factions agreed that all abducted people should be released but the youth did not release our husbands and others they are holding till today.”
Another woman, Njideka Anene, who said her son, Uzodinma, was killed, cried to Soludo to come to the rescue of the people, adding that her 34-year-old son was killed in the camp when the pillar youths stormed it.
About two weeks ago, a different group of Ogwuaniocha community women staged protests against insecurity, homicides, and kidnappings. They accused a different faction of carrying out the actions in an attempt to seize control over the community’s resources.
DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, a spokesman for the state police, stated over the phone that they were aware of and were already handling the security concerns in Ogwuaniocha.
