Report Shows 98% of Idumuje-Ugboko Indigenes Want Peace and Development
Investigation Shows 98% of Idumuje-Ugboko Indigenes Support Peace and Development
- SHAC wants perpetrators of mayhem prosecuted
- Prince Chukwunonso Nwoko evades interview with peace and justice group
Prince Chukwunonso Nwoko
Save Humanity Advocacy Centre (SHAC), a non-governmental organization committed to ensuring justice for all has undertaken a comprehensive field investigation of the immediate and remote causes of the 2017 mayhem in Idumuje-Ugboko. The painstaking efforts of the group which included interviews of key leaders and stakeholders as well as victims of the crisis culminated in the discovery that about 98% of the populace of Idumuje-Ugboko were in support of peace, growth and development in their community. The group also ascertained that most of the populace were happy over the ongoing development of a sports University and International Golf Course in the community as projects that would move the community forward.
The group equally expressed dissatisfaction over the action of the aspiring king of the Community, Prince Chukwunonso Nwoko who failed to avail himself for an interview to offer his own perspective of the crisis. Despite the non-cooperative stance of the royal stool claimant, the eight-man fact-finding team was able to establish that overwhelmingly, accusing fingers are being “pointed to a certain group/person within and without the community, responsible for the degenerated situation.”
Top among the recommendations and findings of the group are the following:
“The police have to intensify efforts in order to effect the arrest of those [alleged perpetrators and masterminds of the crisis] still at large to ensure that justice is served.
“Since it has been established that many of the perpetrators of the acts have been arrested and facing trial, while some are still at large, all parties should allow the law of the land to take its course. We strongly recommend that justice be served so as to warn erring youths of such future actions.
“We urge all stakeholders to embrace the University and golf course project and see it as a once in a lifetime opportunity. The entire community should be their brother’s keeper, by reporting any suspicious activities and persons involved to appropriate authorities. And they must not be part and parcel to any conspiracy, rumor peddling and falsification of facts which could be inimical to the lasting peace process pursued in the community. They should further ensure that, they must be readily willing to expose those militating against the purpose and wheel of progress.”
In its determination to unravel the truth about the crisis, the fact-finding team interviewed or interacted with many leaders and other concerned individuals in the community. Among these were the Iyase [Prime Minister] of Idumuje-Ugboko, Chief Christopher Chukwuma Ogwu, Chief Sunday Anthony Edemodu, the Odogwu of Indumuje-Ugboko, Mr. Victor Omeze a former banker, Peter Onyinsi Gbama, the Head of the Vigilante Group, Prince Kachido Nwoko, Prince Uche Nwoko, Mr. Walter Eziashi and others.
The pro-justice NGO also duly obtained sampled opinions from the victims, indigenous and non-indigenous residents, Asaba Police Command and Zone 5, Benin in their bid to ascertain the true dimensions of the crisis.
SHAC identified some of the factors sustaining or aggravating the Idumuje-Ugboko crisis to include the high level of jealousy of Prince Ned Nwoko’s success by some elite from the community including the Crown Prince. The NGO noted that the missing corpse of Mr. Cyprian, a motorcyclist and one of the casualties of the crisis compounds the peace and justice quest as reprisal is eminently feared while the incessant blackmail of respected indigenes through false and malicious accusations of persons in the social media heightens tension.
