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Indigenes go into fasting, prayers for relocation of unwanted guests

By Kodilinye Obiagwu South East Bureau Chief
24 July 2015   |   12:22 am
INDIGENES and residents of Ekwulobia in Aguata Council of Anambra State have embarked on a three-day fasting and prayer to add to their appeal to the prison authorities to relocate the Boko Haram prisoners incarcerated in the Ekwulobia Prison. As fear and uncertainty continues to prevail in Ekwulobia, the traditional ruler of Ekwulobia, the Ezejiofor…

INDIGENES and residents of Ekwulobia in Aguata Council of Anambra State have embarked on a three-day fasting and prayer to add to their appeal to the prison authorities to relocate the Boko Haram prisoners incarcerated in the Ekwulobia Prison.

As fear and uncertainty continues to prevail in Ekwulobia, the traditional ruler of Ekwulobia, the Ezejiofor II of Ekwulobia, Engineer Emmanuel Chukwukadibia Onyeneke, admitted that there is nothing more the community could do other than beg and pray.

In his palace yesterday, the royal father said, “we cannot fight the government or the prison authorities if things remain this way. But this will be unfair. We have declared fasting and prayers for three weeks.

“We will fast till the end of this month after which we will gather again and reassess the situation. We are up against something bigger than us, so we are only begging the government to reconsider its stand and relocate these prisoners.”

He explained that the fasting and prayer is the community’s last stand, because there is nothing “I can do besides what I am doing now, begging them and praying.”

Lamenting that the incarceration of the insurgents in Ekwulobia is an “assault on the psyche” of the people, the traditional ruler explained that, “the people do not understand the finer explanations that these people are actually in the prison, the feeling is that Boko Haram has visited the town.

“We have in our midst people who returned from Maiduguri and other areas of the North East, people who managed to escape the Boko Haram onslaughts. For many of them, it is like the scourge that sacked them from their residences and businesses has followed them to the last secured point. Can anyone imagine the psychological discord this could create?

“Another major issue is that many residents and tenants, especially non-indigenes living near the prison are vacating their homes and leaving. Also parents are withdrawing their wards and children from some schools. The fear factor is what we are battling with.

“A few days ago, the principal of one of the best private boarding schools in the area, the Monsignor Maduka Memorial Secondary School in Ula, said parents from outside the state have been calling to withdraw their children since the arrival of the prisoners was confirmed. To them, it is as if the insurgents are already operating in Ekwulobia. Non-indigenes are in a panic and will find it easy to relocate unlike the indigenes, who are living with the fears.”

It was learnt that the usual population at the community’s local market day, Eke had dropped. “The markets are emptying,” said the traditional prime minister of Ekwulobia, and a senior lecturer at Madonna University in the state, Nze Gabriel Ezeukwu.

According to him, the Federal Government should have used some measures to pre-empt the emotions of the people. The prevailing panic and fear should not have arisen if the people were taken into any sort of consideration. “The truth is that people are rightly scared of Boko Haram. Although we cannot fight the government, we will keep appealing to them. This is a peaceful community and harbouring people with such violent streak is not easy. The insurgents are worse than kidnappers.”

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