COMMERCIAL activities were yesterday paralyzed in Abakaliki following a protest staged by aged women over the alleged r@pe of a 70-year- old woman to coma on gun point by a herdsman in the State.
The protesters who hail from Mgbom in
Isu community, Onicha Local Government area of the state, baricaded some
major business areas including Fatilami Park and Ezza road among other
places.
Addressing journalists, the leader of the group, Florence Okoro alleged that herdsmen have been
r@ping them and their daughters at gunpoint, adding that the herdsmen
also carted away their food items that include yams, garri and other
belongings.
“The herdsmen have been r@ping us and
our daughters and that is why we came to protest to the government to
come to our rescue because we have had enough of these inhuman treatment
from them.
The government should help us because we are dying of hunger caused by these herdsmen who have destroyed our crops and other properties.
The government should help us because we are dying of hunger caused by these herdsmen who have destroyed our crops and other properties.
“If we cook our food, they will come inside our house and take it and eat. We are farmers and we cannot do anything.
The worst of it is that the horsemen r@pe us in front our husbands. Our culture forbids a woman from having s*x with another man.
If it happens, you cannot come out or
talk in public again because you are a forbidden person. “These horsemen
have defiled us and we are worth nothing in our culture.
We are calling on our governor to tell the hersemen to leave us alone and they should pack out from our land,” she lamented.
Another protester, one Mrs Veronica Chukwu added that “We don`t go to the farms again to avoid being r@ped and our farms have been destroyed.
They are boasting that they are
empowered by the government to move their cows around. “The main purpose
we came out to protest today is because of the r@pe of one Mrs Alice Ogbonna, a 70-year-old woman to the point that she cannot walk again with her two legs.
Apart from the r@pe, they beat her with
stick on her two arms and she cannot move her body again”. she added.
The governor who addressed the protesters through the Attorney General
and Commissioner for Justice, Augustine Nwankwegu said government must
get to the root of the matter and urged them to maintain peace and order
in the area.
“It is not a good thing for a herdsman to r@pe a woman. We have been having meetings with herdsmen and we always tell them to take it easy.
Government will now look into the
activities of these people. We now have a law that will be used to judge
anyone that indulges in this kind of crime,” he said.
But reacting to the development, the
chief (Eze) of herdsmen in the State, Ardo Bello stated that the
suspect, (names withheld) upon interrogation, denied engaging in such a
heinous crime.
According to Bello, when the suspect was
seen around the community, he was warned to stay away from the
environment which he did.
“The community members even killed one
of his cows. He is a stranger in the state. The suspect is already in
the police net and has denied ever r@ping the victim contrary to speculations or claims from the community members.”
Also, the secretary of the herdsmen in
the State, Alhaji Haladu said he just got to know about the incident and
denied the involvement of any herdsman in such crime. “I just heard
about the incident.
Not at all will a herdsman commit such crime because of how we comport ourselves in the state.
If we get the suspect, we will tell him to use the Quran to swear and if he refuses, it means he did it.
Apart from being arrested by the police, we know how we discipline our members.”
If we get the suspect, we will tell him to use the Quran to swear and if he refuses, it means he did it.
Apart from being arrested by the police, we know how we discipline our members.”
Meanwhile, the State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Jude Madu said his office was yet to be furnished on the development.
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