From Tony Osauzo, Benin and Paul Osuyi, Asaba
An alleged move by Egor Local Government Council of Edo State to forcefully relocate Uselu market women to the council’s newly built lock-up stores, yesterday, ended in a protest, with the women shutting down the Uselu/Ugbowo section of the Benin-Lagos highway.
The women, armed with various placards and market tools, barricaded the two sides of the highway and disrupted vehicular movement, just as they resisted police intervention to quit them from the road.
Many of the market women spoke against the N1.2 million per store being demanded by the council.
They said they were forced to protest when the council started destroying the make-shift stores they have been using for years in the market.
One of the women, Mrs. Abieyuwa Osifo, accused the council of being insensitive.
“When the plan to construct these lock-up stores came up, they (Council) told us that the prices will be pocket-friendly, especially to some of us involved in petty trading.
“But what do we have now? A price that most of us cannot afford. N1.2 million for a store; there is no way many of us can afford that now. Even if things were okay, how do you expect a woman who sells only salt and maggi to cough it out such,” she asked.
Mrs. Celena Okon, another protester, described the council’s action as an act of wickedness, especially in view of the present economy situation in the country.
“What am I selling that you will force me to pay over a million naira for a single store? Where do you expect a woman who sells only crayfish or tomatoes to get such a ridiculous amount of money to pay, when in actual fact, most of them are in dire need of additional fund to grow their businesses,” she said.
But the council’s spokesperson, Mrs. Prisca Ebvadiaro, declined to speak on the protest, as a committee was in place to handle the shops issue.
In another development, travellers on the Asaba-Ughelli expressway in Delta State were held up in traffic for several hours following a protest by women of Ossissa community in Ndokwa East Local Government Area over alleged invasion and frequent attacks by herdsmen.
The protesters barricaded the highway as early as 5.30am with placards of various inscriptions even as they chanted songs of grievances.
They accused herdsmen of carrying out incessant and brutal attacks against innocent community dwellers.
According to one of the protesters, Mrs. Grace Oliseyeun, the community had been engulfed in crisis over the last three days as a result of the nefarious activities of the herdsmen.
“The herdsmen have invaded our community and have been constantly harassing the women and youths and now, we can no longer go to our farms for fear of being attacked. They have been very hostile and the life of everyone is in danger,” Oliseyeun said.
Youth President of Ossissa clan, Mr. Chris Ebisue alleged that herdsmen have constantly terrorised the community.
“They have been attacking our people and denying our people access to their farms. Our women can no longer go to farms for fear of being raped. They came to the centre of our town the day before yesterday, issued threats to our people and wounded Azuka Okwutu and Chukwuemeka Nwane.
“Before now, we wrote to the state government, and those in charge of conflict resolution convened a meeting between us and the herdsmen on April 20, 2016 where a 10-day ultimatum was given for them to vacate the community.
“Instead of complying with the resolution, they went back to reinforce, and since then, it has been hell here.”
As at press time, it was gathered that policemen deployed to the scene of the protest to maintain the peace had already cleared the barricades on the road to free the built-up traffic.
We’ll end militancy, oil theft in Niger Delta, says cns, ibas
From Joe Effiong, Uyo
Nigerian Navy has vowed to continue its fight against vandals in the Nigeria Delta.
The Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas who gave the pledge when he paid an official visit to the NNS Jubilee in Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, on Sunday, explained that the force would not wait till all the resources they need edto combat criminality in the region and all other parts of the country were provided by the Federal Government before they would swing into operations.
“The truth is that the United States of America, with all its wealth and might, does not have the resources as they would wish to have. So for us here too, the Federal Government has done quite a lot to equip the navy.
“But if you ask if the assets are enough to be able to contain the challenges that we have, the answer is no. So we have to devise other innovative ways of addressing the challenges. But we will continue to cry to the Federal Government that we need more resources to effectively carry out our work,” Ibas said.
Ibas said the force planned to turn the abandoned technical college donated to it by the Akwa Ibom State government into a naval university when it has enough resources to fund it operations.
While being conducted around the premises of the school situated at Ekpatakwa in Oruk Anam Local Government Area, the CNS said he would send a technical committee from Abuja to assess the school and make appropriate recommendations to the force.
The Ekpatakwa Technical College built and partly equipped during Victor Attah’s administration had been abandoned despite being the most modern secondary school in the state.
Governor Udom Emmanuel recently decided to hand over the facility to the Nigerian Navy to establish a secondary school, to stem the tide of encroachment and dilapidation.