OUR JOURNEY THROUGH HELL

The women of Ozzu, Ndiukwuenu community in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State have been recalling their life-threatening experiences at the hands of policemen in the state. They had been teargased at the state headquarters of the Criminal investigation Department CID at Amawbia, while protesting for release of their husbands arrested by the police

Some people believed to be government agents had ventured into Mamu River forest reserve land where they farm and train their children. Before then, their male counterparts had protested to the state government about people who claimed to be government agents brazenly selling off the community’s land.

They regarded the action of the so-called government agents as tantamount to impunity, saying that they would rather die protecting what belongs to them. Consequently, more than 200 members of the community, including the young, the old as well as women and widows, began a protes in which they said with one voice: ‘enough is enough.’

A woman leader in the community, Ezinne Dorothy Onyebarachi, who spoke with our correspondent, said they had become a people without hope. She said the state government, conniving with the police, had decided to make Ndiukwuenu an outcast and a sheep without a shepherd.

She regretted that while they were trying to meet with the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of CID, Baba Maiyaki, her colleagues were teargassed by some overzealous policemen outside without the knowledge of the DC, who was inside with some of their leaders.

Narrating their ordeal to The Nation, Mrs Chinwe Uba Nwankwo, recalled that some of her colleagues nearly passed out at the gate of the CID office.

“Some of us vomited blood and two of our members fainted. But with the help of some passers-by, they were resuscitated,” she said.

For Mrs Fidelia Ike, Ndiukwuenu community had been turned into a war zone with battles fought on a daily basis as there are sporadic gunshots from hoodlums and policemen because of land disputes.

She recalled that the incident at the CID’s office was the first time she had inhaled teargas, adding that they only survived by the mercy of God.

Asked why they were teargased by the police, Mrs Ike said the policemen wanted them out of their premises but they insisted on remaining there until their men who were arrested in the morning of that day were released.

But the DCO Maiyaki told our correspondent there was not like using teargas on the women.

“Why would any sane person do that to harmless women?” he asked, adding that he does not like it when people come up with blackmail to score cheap points. He said: “Nobody teargased the harmless and defenceless women. Such a thing did not happen, and you know I will be the last person to allow such or tolerate it in my office. They were dramatising whatever you saw on that day. Take it from me. It didn’t happen and will never happen under my watch.”

Maiyaki said the women raised a sensitive issue, adding that they discovered the community had a long-standing leadership tussle and wanted to use the police to settle their internal scores. matters.

Mrs Priscilla Okoli, the Secretary of the women in the community, said they were prepared to go nude if the harassment by policemen continued.

She told The Nation that the situation had become unbearable for them, adding that the police continued to harass them on the orders of two persons from the community, who she said claimed to be ‘gofment pikins (government children)’.

One of the community’s leaders, Mr Ezechukwu Nwankwo, told The Nation that they would not allow anyone to take possession of Mamu forest reserve.

Chief Peter Nwafor, another community leader in Ndiukwuenu, said “the women are protesting the grave injustice done to our community, our ancestors and unborn generations by agents of this government who have forcibly taken over our land and bestowed the rights to same on known criminals from within and outside our community.

”This singular action of empowering and rewarding criminality has led to the deterioration of the security situation in Ozzu-Ndiukwuenu, such that the community has become inaccessible after 8 pm.

“Ozzu-Ndiukwuenu community donated their land after reaching some terms of agreement with the colonial government. It is unacceptable to us that the government has given approval to the de-reservation of some portion of the land, shared it among some powerful agents of the government and known troublemakers in Anambra State in total disregard of the terms of agreement reached with the previous government.

“The leadership of the community was neither consulted nor informed of this grave decision, which will affect the life of the community in many ways.

“We plead with the governor to revoke the approval given for the de-reservation of any portion of Mamu River Forest Reserve, pending the resolution of the substantive suit before the National Boundary Commission.”

Speaking with The Nation on the danger of teargasing women, a medical expert, Dr. Ihuoma Emekobum, said it could cause problems for an asthmatic patient.