Aged women on Thursday staged a peaceful protest at Delta state government house in Asaba over the alleged murder of one Afamefuna Ubaka in the Ogwashi Uku community in the Aniocha south council area of the state.
Armed with placards of various inscriptions, the protesters called for justice for their late son, allegedly beaten to death by a vigilante group, even as they demanded that their husbands be freed from detention.
Dressed in black attire, the women who carried placards of different inscriptions claimed that a number of their husbands aged between 60 and 79 had been unlawfully detained in the past eight months for offences which they knew nothing about
Chike Malije, who was the only man among the protesters, told journalists that trouble started when the Obi of Ogwashi-Uku, HRM Ifechukwude Okonjo, wrote to Ogbeodogwu quarters requesting for a nominee for the Odogwu title of Ogwashi-Uku.
According to him,” the king was in order to have written to the quarter, as tradition demands, the quarter consulted with the ancestors, and somebody was chosen for the title.”
He alleged that the palace rejected the chosen one as the monarch was said to have already picked someone else for the title.
“Late Ubaka is still in the mortuary. Elders of our community of age bracket 60 – 79 are also in detention while our youths are arrested without police arresting the real persons connected with the torture and murder of Ubaka,” he said.
Receiving the protesters, Special Adviser to Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and Peace and Conflict Resolution Chief Edwin Uzor said the state government already possessed the petition from the community, assuring that the matter would be decisively handled.
Meanwhile, the Obi-in-Council of Ogwashi-Uku Kingdom, in a statement by the Palace Secretary, Ifeakanachukwu Emordi, said the death of Ubaka was reported and that the authorities were investigating the circumstances that led to his death.
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