By Gabriel Chy Alonta
Residents of Isuaniocha in Awka North local government area of Anambra state are asking the state governor, Prof. Charles Soludo and Commissioner of Police, Echeng Echeng, to end all communal crises in the community to enable them elect a traditional ruler.
According to the residents and stakeholders of the community, who spoke with Orient Daily last Thursday, there is a need to forestall total peace to enable the community to elect both President General and a traditional ruler. They alleged that there were some unscrupulous elements fomenting troubles to distort peace and progress of the community.
In an interview with newsmen at Umelum village, the youth leader of the community, Ozo Onyemazu Ngini, urged the state government to send a fact-finding team to the area with a view to finding a lasting solution to the communal crisis rocking the town. He equally appealed to the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, to come to their rescue by calling some alleged unscrupulous officers who were being used by few individuals in the community to cause troubles for residents.
Ozor Ngini narrated how a 13-year-old boy was recently arrested in the community and taken to Abuja where he spent three nights behind bars.
According to him, some security personnel swooped into the town at about three o’clock in morning and arrested the minor who just returned from boarding school alongside his elder brother.
Ozor Onyemazi claimed that a former president general of the community and his family members were fighting hard to frustrate every effort by the town to get a president General and a traditional ruler who would further pilot the affairs of the fast developing town. He called on the government to always consult and hear from stakeholders and people in the grassroots of any community before taking action or decisions rather than base their conclusions on an account of a person.
Also speaking, the community youth secretary, Mr. Chukwuma Onyeibor, described the present situation in Isuaniocha as worrisome and heartbreaking, even as he noted that it has put a clog in the wheel of development in the area.
He said many youths who should be productive and contributing to the overall progress of the state had been on the run for fear of police intimidation and harassment.
Meanwhile, the minor who was arrested and detained for 3 days in Abuja, master Ifechukwu Benjamin, recalled how he was whisked away by security men who stormed their home at about three o’clock in the morning and taken to Abuja where he was held for three days not minding that he is a minor.
The former President General of the community, Mr. Tony Onyeagolu had earlier in an interview denied the allegations that his family was sponsoring the police intimidations in the area.
Onyeagolum who said he had spent six months in custody, called on all those claiming to be harassed by security agents to honour the invitation rather than make comments that were not realistic.
Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Tochukwu Ikenga, said he was not aware of such arrest involving a minor and advised those seeking intervention to make an official entry at the Anambra Police Command, assuring that CP Echeng is always ready to give them a listening ear.