Women of Orji Autonomous Community in Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State on Thursday protested over the alleged illegal arrest, and detention of their Woman Leader, Mrs. Prisca Mbaoma, her husband Mr. Joseph, and their children on trumped-up charges by the traditional ruler of the community, Eze Innocent Opara . The women in their uniforms numbering over 1000 under the aegis of Orji Women Federated said that the traditional ruler alongside other government officials have connived to forcefully take their ancestral Nkworji Market which was renovated by former governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha’s administration and peacefully handed over to the women. They also accused Eze Opara, former Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Hon. Simeon Ebegbulem, and Members and leadership of Imo State Amalgamated Market Traders Association (ISAMATA) and a market developer of destroying the market in a ploy to rebuild it into an ultramodern market stalls with a view to hand back to the original owners.
Speaking, Lolo Stella Williams, said that the women had resisted such a move to deprive the women of their ancestral market because it was the only market serving the entire community.
According to her, Eze Innocent Opara was accosted when the women heard that he had opted for the outright sale of the market against the earlier agreement that the developer would hand over after the market when completed which she said the monarch openly denied.
She expressed shock that despite the monarch’s denial, the developer after completion, started selling the newly constructed 198 shops at the whopping sum of N7 to N8 million without giving the shops back to the original owners (women) as earlier agreed.
She pointed out that all the attempts meant to correct the anomaly proved abortive as the traditional ruler and his conspirators vehemently refused to deal with the original shop owners (women) which she said that the women rejected.
The Orji Women Federated, (Ndiom Orji) while protesting on Thursday in Owerri, said they came to inform Governor Hope Uzodimma and the Police Commissioner, Imo State Command CP Aboki Danjuma, on the maltreatment, illegal arrest, and detention, by the police on trumped up charges.
Attempts were made to get the developer and the traditional ruler Eze Innocent Opara to react to the women’s complaints but they could not be reached as their phone numbers were not connected.
Also, the police spokesman, Henry Okoye, could not pick up calls put across to him and did not respond to the text message sent to him.
