SEPTUAGENARIAN MURDER: DO NOT CATEGORISE ALL OF US AS EVIL — EBONYI INDIGENES BEG UMUNZE COMMUNITY

REPORTER: UCHE NDEKE

Indigenes of Ebonyi State living in Umunze, Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State have appealed to their host community not to label all of them as irresponsible tenants due to the attitude of few bad elements in their midst.

During separate interactions with Radio Nigeria in Umunze, the non indigenes described as barbaric, the killing of the 72-year-old woman, which led to their host staging a peaceful protest during which they requested Ebonyi people to vacate the area.

Some of the respondents said they had lived in the community peacefully for more than 25-years, citing the saying that “when one finger fetches ant infested firewood, it affects an entire body.”

Women of Umunze had carried out a peaceful protest alleging that their tenants were committing various crimes, which compelled the indigenes to issue the quit notice.

However, according to some indigenes of Ebonyi, it will amount to blanket judgment to describe all of them in that manner since some of them have co-habited in the peaceful town for a very long period.

The Chairman of Ebonyi State Welfare Association in Umunze and welder by profession, Mr. Moses Njoku, who migrated to Umunze in 1990, described the incident as a detasteful act while asking the people to bear the irreparable loss.

Mr. Njoku, who is also a choir master at St. Joseph Church, Umunze, narrated that most of those who perpetrated the alleged crimes were not permanent residents in the area but most times only come during farming season and leave much later.

He, however, hinted that they had concluded plans to register the details of anyone from Ebonyi State, who wishes to reside and work in the area, while appealing to landlords to assist them by ensuring that anyone coming to them must have a certified paper showing that he or she is known to the people on ground.

Another Ebonyi State indigene, Mr. Donatus Nwegwu, who had his secondary education in Umunze about 20 years ago, expressed regret that the situation had brought them into disreput, even when it was obvious that the few that committed the alleged crimes were never known to them, who had married and given birth to children in the area.

Mr. Nwegwu, while condemning the murder of Mrs. Charity Okolie, appealed to the people of Umunze to understand that the act was never done collectively even as he called for the law to take its course on the culprits.

Another Ebonyi State indigene, Mr. Sunday Omah, said he started living in the Community since 1995 as a farm labourer and now commercial Motorcyclist but had never run into any trouble with his hosts, who he described as very loving and peaceful.

The people all pledged their support and cooperation with the traditional ruler, the President General and other natives to ensure that they continued to live together as brothers and sisters while praying for justice in the present incident.

The President General of Umunze, Mr. Hi polite Ozua, hinted that in the interest of peace, they would be meeting with their tenants to determine the way forward, even as he called on the people, especially the youth to remain calm and peaceful.

EDITED BY CHUKWUBUIKE MADU