Ozubulu youths under the aegis of Ozubulu Youths
Association, OYA, yesterday, protested the reopening of St Philip’s
Catholic Church, Amakwa Ozubulu, Anambra State barely a week after
gunmen attacked worshippers, alleging what it called attack on their
people without provocation and police inability to bring the
perpetrators to book.
This is even as a human rights
group, International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law,
Intersociety, yesterday, said it has investigated last Sunday’s killing
of a policeman and a motorcyclist at Oguta Road in Onitsha, near the
Assemblies of God Church and discovered that the attack was not targeted
at the church worshippers.
The youths, who marched from
Ozubulu motor park opposite Ekwusigo Local Government headquarters in
Ozubulu, to Ozubulu Police station, and to the palace of the traditional
ruler of the community, Obi Fidelis Nnamdi Oruche said they have had
enough of attacks on innocent people of the community.
Addressing
newsmen shortly after the peaceful protest, President of OYA, Mr Emeka
Anakwe, a Port Harcourt-based Clearing and Forwarding Agent, said it was
worrisome that a church, where over 13 people were killed by gun-men,
would be reopened for service one week after the attack, when
investigation into the matter has not been concluded, contrary to the
earlier promise by the Nnewi Diocese.
Anakwe who
condemned the attack on the innocent worshippers, said “the youths of
Ozubulu are concerned about the attack because the entire people of
Ozubulu are now living in fear. We cannot sleep comfortably any more
because of fear of recurrence.
"We have in the past,
seen a situation where a security man was caught with fresh human head
and was arrested but when we did not see him being prosecuted, we
started asking questions, but we were told that the matter is in the
court.
"We are not happy that when incidents like this
happen, it is swept under the carpet. We are peaceful people, we are not
into crime. In the past, people from Nnewi, Nnobi, Oraifite and other
neighbouring towns came here to drink and relax because of the peaceful
atmosphere. Our town has always played host to people from other
communities in the state because of its peaceful nature, but today that
situation is being eroded with these nasty stories of killings here.
"Some
of these things are happening because the elders of this town have
neglected the youths for so long, and we will no longer accept such
disposition from the elders of the community as we are prepared to play
active role in the issues that affect the community and our people. We
must take our destiny in our hands.
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Society