34 Enugu schools shut for 5 yrs over pro-Kogi agitations

No fewer than 34 schools in five border communities of Ette, in Enugu State have remained closed in
the last five years, thus denying hundreds of school children access to education.
Ette, a border town between Umuopu Umueze in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State and Ogugu in Olamaboro Local Government Area of Kogi State had not known peace in the last 20 years but the problem escalated in 2011, following skirmishes over agitation by some youths that the communities be merged with the neighbouring Kogi State.
One of the schools shut-down for five years.
Sources told the South East Voice that apart from 10 secondary and 24 primary schools illegally closed, hospitals, churches, markets and other government offices were equally forcefully shut down in the area within the same period.
The Catholic Church which was the dominant Christian denomination in the area was sacked from Ette sometime in 2012 and was yet to re-open for full church activities at the time South East Voice visited last week.
‘’The church’s celebrations on Sundays and week days were rudely disrupted just as the Parish Priest of St. James the Apostle, Rev. Fr. Sabastine Onah was sacked from the Parish House with the church and the Parish rectory vandalized, prompting the Catholic Bishop of Nsukka Diocese, Dr. Gregory Onah to recall Fr. Onah to the Catholic Secretariat in Nsukka, where he had since become an itinerant priest without a parish,’’ sources said.
It was further alleged that some prominent people in the community including five traditional rulers and political office holders, who pledged allegiance to the Enugu State government have not only lost their household property to the activities of the pro-Kogi agitators, but also fled their homes to avoid being killed.’’
Lull in violent activities
Although there was a lull in violent activities at the time of this report, following the arrest of the leader of the youth gang who had been terrorising the people whose name was given as one Goddey Eko, alias Warrior, by the Enugu State police command, investigations showed that there are about 24 primary and 10 secondary schools in the five communities that make up Ette, which had three major tribes including Igbo, Idoma and Igala.
How cricis started
Ette as a community speak three different languages. While a large population of Ette people speak Idoma language, others speak Igbo and Igala. This had been the situation right from the old Eastern Region through the defunct East Central State, to old Anambra State; old Enugu State and now the present Enugu State.
Christians, who are of the Catholic denomination had also been in the Immaculate Heart Parish, Aji, Enugu–Ezike in the Catholic Archdiocese of Nsukka until it became a full fledged parish – St. James the Apostle Parish, Ette, on September 28,1998.
The administrator of Igboeze North West Local Development Authority, and an indigene of Ette, Chief Emmanuel Alachi traced the problems in Ette to some natives, who joined the army, police or other security agencies or the civil service, under the false claims that they were natives of Kogi State and asked the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase to upgrade the police post in Ette to a full fledged police station to reduce incidences of crimes in the area.
‘’The problems we are facing were caused by some of our sisters and brothers who joined the army and other security agencies or the civil service in Kogi State based on false claims that they were from Kogi. Some of the people who falsely entered the federal and state civil services of the neighbouring states have now retired and have found out that they can not get political appointments from Kogi State, knowing that they are not from there.
‘’They now resorted to engineering problems, claiming that Ette is in Kogi State. This is not true. I am among those who have suffered deprivations for not going along with them… ‘’It was those who took this fraudulent path in the past that now want to rectify their situation by trying to push the whole of Ette community into Kogi State. ‘’They burnt my houses, those of Hon. Tony Ogidi, John Amedu as well as those belonging to my wives, among others,” he said.
Public institutions destroyed
Earlier in a Save our Souls, SOS, message sent to the immediate past governor of Enugu State, Sullivan Chime, the National Executive of Ette General Assembly and jointly signed by the five traditional rulers of the five autonomous communities as well as the Catholic faithful,
the people listed public institutions shut down or destroyed by the pro-Kogi agitators to include- Igbo- Eze North West Development Centre Secretariat, a cottage hospital, health centres, magistrate and customary courts, primary and secondary schools and the borehole in Ette, among others.
The petitioners also stated that the violent pro-Kogi agitators caused the rejection of the treated mosquito nets as well as their share of free fertilizers from the Enugu and Igboeze North local governments just as they stopped the various polio vaccination exercises in the affected communities since 2011.
Apart from the closure of public and private schools and institutions, there had been no collection of taxes or levies by either the state or Igboeze North Local Government council in Ette since then.
Meanwhile, in another SOS jointly signed by Tony Ogidi, the lawmaker representing Igbo-Eze North 11 Constituency in the House of Assembly, Chief Emmanuel Alachi, Igwe Aloysius Akor of Efuoda Autonomous Community, Aaron Alachi as well as the President, Ette General Assembly, among others, they had asked Chime to intercede in the restoration of peace in the area by ensuring adequate punishment to the perpetrators of crises.
Resort to self-help
The resort to self- help started when the agitators for Ette to be merged with Kogi, lost their case at the Supreme Court sometime in 2002. The apex court had ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter and asked the plaintiffs to approach the National Boundary Commission, NBC, which it stated was empowered to resolve such matters.
This led to alleged coercing of other people from the area to kowtow to their wishes. In the process, the agitators reportedly resorted to burning houses and killing their own brothers and sisters as well as denying children and youths from the area access to education over the years with its unimaginable consequences in the future.
Customary court judge, others killed, 47 houses burnt
Apart from closure of schools, hospitals, government offices, markets and churches, among others, no fewer than 47 houses have so far been burnt as a result of the problem. Sources said that those killed included Matthias Eje, the former head of Ette Vigilante group; David Adejo, former Customary Court judge; Sam Ogidi, younger brother of Hon. Tony Ogidi as well as Ape Ojoma, a prominent community leader, among others.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was also stopped from embarking on registration of voters in the area, even as the last general elections did not hold in Ette. Eligible voters in the area were said to have been registered in the nearby communities of Umuopu, Aji, Umogbo Agu and Imufu where they travelled to exercise their franchise during the elections.
This was even as there had been tension and apprehension as most leaders of the area had relocated either to Enugu, the Enugu State capital, Abuja, Lokoja or Kaduna, among other northern states, depending on which divide they belonged to. But number of casualties have continued to increase on both sides.
Relative peace as Warrior is arrested by police
Men of the police Special Anti- Robbrey Squad, SARS, Enugu State command, have however, arrested one Goddey Eko, alias Warrior, who hails from Uyi-Ette in the the area over the alleged killing of one Gabriel Apula, his cousin. The police said that the deceased allegedly died following ‘’the injuries inflicted on him by the suspect and members of his group over border related conflicts in some communities in Ette, Enugu State.’’
Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Ebere Amaraizu, who spoke on the arrest said: “The suspect and his gang members tied the victim’s (Apula’s) legs, roasted him and set some houses ablaze. Our operatives, through intelligence reports, swooped on them at their hide-out in Ette and arrested the suspect.
“The police are on the trail of other fleeing members of the gang. The suspect was largely responsible for the burning of 47 houses during the communal clashes in the border communities of Ette in Enugu State. “Items recovered from the suspects’ hide-out included a locally made single barrelled shot gun and a locally made single barrelled rifle with two cartridges.
“The command is appealing to members of the public to report any person seen with gun-shot wounds to the nearest police station.”
When South East Voice visited the community, most of the houses were deserted. It was also noticed that construction work on the Nsukka -Igboeze South – Enugu Ezike – Ette road which was reportedly awarded by the Enugu State government in conjunction with Nsukka and Igboeze South and Igboeze North local governments, had abruptly stopped at the Umuopu Umeze Centre’s border with Ette as a result of the violent activities of the pro- Kogi residents.
Pro-Kogi leaders
The leader of the pro-Kogi movement, Chief Aaron Akor, was not in Ette when South East Voice visited there. His supporters, however, said that they sacked the Catholic Church in particular because of its aggression towards the people of the area.
They alleged that ‘’the Catholic Diocese of Nsukka started ordaining our people priests as far back as 1990,’’ adding that ‘’in Ette, we speak Igala and Idoma mainly but till today , 95 per cent of the church prayers and rites are done in Igbo language. You come to church and they begin to pray in Igbo which we don’t understand… These are at the root of our grievances…,’’ they said.
We shall always seek for peace amid provocation –Catholic Church
However, the Catholic Diocese of Nsukka has maintained that it would not resort to violent means in protecting its members, just as it would not join issues with the pro-Kogi agitators ‘’although they had told half-truths.’’
Meanwhile, the Igboeze North West Development Authority, has been relocated to the defunct Social Democratic Party, SDP, office located at the Federal Low Cost Building Estate, Imufu, a few kilometres from Ette due to the inability of workers to access the secretariat in the last five years.