The villagers did not only burn down his house and the family house, they went to his sister's house and equally burnt it down.
The family of Obasi Udenwatu of Inyi Mgbowo in the Awgu local government area of Enugu state has decried the ostracisation and burning of their houses by villagers for committing no offence known to law.
They alleged that the traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Gregory Ituma, who was recently suspended by the state government over his alleged links with unknown gunmen terrorising the state, approved the atrocities meted out to the family.
Speaking with SaharaReporters about the incident on Tuesday, Mr Obinna Patrick Udenwatu, who has been 'squatting' with friends since the ostracisation on September 29, and subsequent burning of their houses on October 13, which were allegedly supervised by Chief Ignatius Esom, Onyekaozulu Chukwueze, Mahakweaba, and Mrs. Nneka Dike.
Lamenting the incident, Obinna said he has been rendered useless, adding that everything he had in the house was completely burnt.
According to him, the villagers did not only burn down his house and the family house, they went to his sister's house and equally burnt it down.
He said, "On Thursday, September 29, 2022, some self-organised group superintended by HRH Igwe Gregory Ituma and led by Chiefs Ignatius Esom, Onyekaozulu Chukwueze, Mahakweaba, and Mrs. Nneka Dike, carried out an unlawful and unwarranted 'Ilu ochu' and ostracisation against my family.
"These men and woman organised a group of people numbering about 100, carrying logs of wood, palm tree branches, threshed palm fruit branches (aghiriha akwu), and other materials signifying ostracisation, chanting condemnation songs, entered our compound and dumped all these materials in their hands blocking the doors.
"They made a proclamation against me and my mother and directed a town crier, one Mr. Uchenna Ulanta to go round the Inyi village and announce that my family members, particularly I and my mother have been excommunicated from the village; that nobody shall have anything to do with us - no exchange of greetings. No business or market transaction, no visitors and no communication whatsoever with us.”
"While I reported the unlawful ostracisation of my family to the cultural establishment of Opulato Mgbowo and was waiting for their invention since the attack was carried out by Inyi village," Obinna regretted as "that was not enough for them”.
“On Thursday, October 13, 2022, the group returned and burnt my house down and left my family homeless," he said.
Continuing, he said their reason for ostracising and burning the houses, was that "I made a complaint to the police against Mr Uchenna Okolo, Igwe's cabinet member for his conspiracy and connivance with one Mr. Vincent Agwu in forging the signature of my late father, Mr. Obasiude Nwatu and falsely claiming the sale of about six plots of land by my father which is not true."
"Upon my complaint," he said, "the police arrested him.”
He continued, “He was subsequently transferred to the State Police Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (SCIID). Unfortunately, on getting to the police state headquarters, another police unit identified him as a wanted person that was connected with unknown gunmen that operated in Nkanu, and killed a number of police officers. He was subsequently detained.
"The villagers organised against my family, they thought that his detention was sequel to my complaint about forging my late father's signature."
Obinna, however, explained that the said Chief Okolo earlier filed a number of false petitions against him both at the State Police Command and at the police zone 13 Ukpo, Anambra state on the same land issue which he claims ownership of through the forgery.
He lamented that neither the group that ostracised and burnt their houses nor the villagers came to his rescue.
"Meanwhile, I have earlier reported the case to the Igwe Gregory Ituma and his cabinet, the red cap chiefs of which the said Uchenna Okolo is a member but nothing came out of it apparently because of undue interest."
He called for help from civil society organisations and sought the intervention of the state government to restore his family's dignity and all the constitutionally guaranteed rights.
"I want justice. I want all those that carried the atrocities against my family to face justice," he said.
Efforts made by SaharaReporters to speak to the police about the incident were not successful as the command's spokesman DSP Daniel Ndukwe did not answer his calls. He also did not reply to a text message sent to him.