Like the popular Aba riots in which
thousands of Igbo women congregated at the Native Administration centers in
Calabar and Owerri as well as smaller towns to protest against the warrant
chiefs and the taxes on the market women, Kokori women protested nude
(Eweya) , last weekend, demanding the withdrawal of soldiers on “internal
security operation” from the community.
The women, angry that they were
prevented from selling in the market, penultimate
Saturday, by soldiers who upturned
their wares for allegedly selling food items to the boys causing problem for
the government, were further infuriated by the report they received when they
got home that soldiers broke into the community shrine for the second time and
destroyed every object at sight even after the chief priest, Michael Omonigho,
had been taken into custody.
Citing the schools in the
community, health centre and markets that had been forced to shut down because
of the siege to the town by soldiers, who accused of beating up their
men, they embarked on a protest, and, stunningly, they prevented soldiers from
entering the town for several hours on Monday.
Accusing the soldiers of chasing away
their husbands and desecrating their custom and tradition, the women, acting on
unconfirmed information that soldiers wanted to demolish the Igban shrine,
formed a human shield around the shrine and prevented them from purportedly
executing the mission.
Caskets in the palace
They did not spare the leaders of the
community, the elite, led by their monarch, Ovie of
Agbon Kingdom, Ogurime-Rime, Ukori 1,
who they accused of looking the other way while the community was under siege
by agents of government and soldiers. Consequently, they carried caskets and
deposited them at the palace of the monarch and homes of some prominent sons of
the town.
Despite the expressed wrath of
Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan over the alleged support they gave their
suspected kidnapper- son, Kelvin, the women maintained that the community was
being marginalized as stated by the alleged kidnap kingpin and asked the
governor to develop Kokori.
Women emancipation!
It is like the women are tired of the
silence of their men and have taken over the battle for the “liberation” of the
town from perceived enemies.
The protest, which went wild, last
weekend, started penultimate Saturday when the women returned from the market
angry that soldiers allegedly came to upturn their wares, asking why they
should sell food items to Kelvin boys, who were fighting government.
They went round the community half
naked raining curses on the soldiers that night. The next day, Sunday, the
women were joined by members of Liberation Movement of Urhobo People, formed by
the alleged kingpin, last month, and they really went fanatical.
Vandalized property
They allegedly broke into the
monarch’s palace and vandalized the citadel. The youths, who, penultimate
Friday, only laid siege to the palace and held the royal father, PDP senatorial
candidate for yesterday’s bye-election, Chief Emmanuel Aguariavwodo, and others
hostage, for more than one hour, broke into the palace this time around.
They allegedly vandalized property of
the monarch and the residence of a member of the House of Representatives, Hon.
Akpodiagaga Emeyese. Emeyese, who was allegedly injured in the first attack on
the palace, broke his leg and has been hospitalized since then.
The protesters reportedly attacked a
hotel belonging to Emeyese and other elite in the town, saying they were the
ones that gave Kelvin out to security agents in Port-Harcourt, where he was
reportedly arrested after he was tricked there.
According to a source, “Chanting
songs of disenchantment with the portrait of the Ovie of Agbon, HRM Ogurimerime
Ukori I after placing a casket at the palace gate, the women said the last
thing they would tolerate was the destruction of their shrine, declaring that
‘Egba’ shrine was as old as Kokori town.”
Our grouse – Spokesperson
Spokes person of the protesters,
Madam Irerevwo Oyokoko, called for the release of Kelvin and the arrested chief
priest, Michael Omonigho, insisting that government should attend to his
(Kelvin) demand, instead of arresting him and terrorizing the entire community
with soldiers.
Noting that indigenes of other
communities in the Niger Delta that carried arms against government were
granted amnesty, Oyokoko asked why Kelvin’s case was different.
It took the intervention of the
chairman of Ethiope-East for the women to disperse last Sunday, having been
assured by a top military officer, who was on ground when the chairman
addressed them that they would not destroy the shrine.
Running battle
However, they regrouped on Monday and
built a wall around the shrine following a report that soldiers were seen with
motor-saws supposedly to hack down the tree, which form part of the shrine.
March
On Tuesday, there was report that
calm was gradually returning to the community, but the situation changed,
Wednesday, as the women, maintaining their children no longer go to school and
that soldiers were worsening their plight, while government was not concerned
by their ordeal, but interested in uprooting anything Kelvin out of Kokori,
marched from the town to Isiokolo, the headquarters of the council on foot to
lodge a formal protest.
Led by the oldest Kokori woman, they
trooped to Isiokolo, drumming, dancing and raining curses on their monarch who
they accused of conspiracy.
At Isiokolo, where they met the Head
of Personnel Management, Mr. William Egbukuage, they repeated the call for the
release of the chief priest of the community’s shrine, saying he was not a juju
priest for Kelvin and his gang, as claimed by those who apprehended him.
They told Egbukuage, who received
them in the absence of the chairman of council, that Kokori was indeed
marginalized, as stated by the seized alleged Delta kidnap kingpin,
Kelvin.
According to them, since 1961 when
oil production started in Kokori, the community has practically nothing to show
for it.
They also called for the release of
all the “innocent farmers, traders and villagers” that were arrested by
soldiers on their way to the farm, market and other places.
Egbukuage promised to deliver their
message to the council chairman.
Ghana protest
Meanwhile, Kokori people in Ghana,
last Sunday, decried the invasion of the community by the military under the
guise of searching for gang members of Kelvin, calling for withdrawal of the
troops.
Leader of the Kokori community in
Ghana and public relations officer of Urhobo Progress Union, UPU/ South-South
community, Ghana, Mr. David Ukueku, said the entire Kokori people in Ghana were
incensed by the invasion.
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