Ebonyi women from Ndiezoke village in Igbeagu community of Izzi local government area, went naked on Wednesday, January 29, in protest of the alleged confiscation of their mineral deposits.
The protesters who stormed government house Abakaliki, cried unto the State government to assist them recover their mineral deposits from one EP-JAF(John Nwenyi) in Ndiezoke Igbegu village.
John Nwenyi was the former Traditional Ruler of the village who was dethroned by the former governor of Ebonyi state, Dr Sam Egwu(now senator) and he is currently serving as a member of Ebonyi State Elders Council.
The women numbering over fifty had placards with different inscriptions such as “Gov. Umahi please save us because you are our last hope, we don’t need JEP-JAF(John Nwenyi) in Ndiezoke Igbegu village, John Nwenyi (JEP-JAF) our dear village is not a war zone.“Stop bringing Army and Police to our village, Stop instigating crisis in Ndiezoke Igbegu village.”The protesters were led by Dr. Christian Nwagbaga.
Addressing newsmen, Nwagbaga stated: “we have a solid mineral deposits in our village, and it was discovered since 2014. We have somebody by name John Nwenyi who is a former Eze of igbegu.
“We have a common boundary with them but since we discovered this mineral deposits in our village, Nwenyi never allowed us to rest.
” Since 2015, Nwenyi wants to mine the place but we told him no. He brought white men with police and loaded them in his car and forced himself into the place.
“He tried to survey the place by force. But after that, we told him that enough is enough and that he should not try to come here again. We asked him, are you surveying the place for what? Is it on our own consent or is the governor aware of it?
“We told him that there is a procedure for mining which we know that he has not followed. We wrote a letter to the commissioner of police and commissioner for solid minerals and copied the governor. But he came with a bulldozer to enter the place to start work by force. But we succeeded in stopping him on the way.
“He came again three days ago with police and Army loaded in his cars to force himself again into the site. He has been threatening the entire village. We decided to come here and protest to the governor to come and save us from this situation.”
In his response, the commissioner for Internal Security, Border Peace and Conflict Resolution, Hon. Stanley Okoro Emegha, assured the protesters of the governor’s preparedness to stop Nwenyi from encroaching into their land.
He said: “This war is not your war. And the condition we are seeing you people are not good, especially the way this women dressed. It is not acceptable by the government.“From today onward, that man will not enter that place again. It is an assurance from the governor. He is not happy that you people are coming at this condition. You will be satisfied the way government will handle this matter”.
Meanwhile, all efforts to reach John Nwenyi at the time of filing this report proved abortive as he refused to pick several phone calls made across to him by our correspondent at about 4:22, 4:23 and 4:53pm, while his son’s mobile line was switched off.
