Obeagu Ugwuaji Community in Enugu State has staged a protest over the arrest of their traditional ruler, Igwe Christopher Nyia by the police.
The protesters were seen by an eye witness carrying placards with different inscriptions that reads; “Stop troubling our traditional ruler”, “Our traditional ruler is innocent”, “Land grabbers should leave our traditional ruler alone” amongst others.
Chief Boniface Ani, the Onowu (Traditional Prime Minister), of the community while speaking to news said their traditional ruler is hunted by land speculators from the community.
According to him, the Monarch was arrested by a team of policemen from the Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad (FSARS).
He said the traditional ruler had refused to yield to intimidation by some members of the community whose interest was to grab land and live in opulence at the expense of the community.
“These persons have been intimidating him with the FSARS for refusing them to sell our communal land, as we speak, the monarch is in their custody.
“They have always used Mathew Ali, the Investigation Police Officer (IPO) of FSARS to disrupt the peace in our community by constantly harassing the traditional ruler,” he said.
Collaborating the story of Chief Ani, the Secretary-General, Ugwuaji Town Union, Linus Nsude, said that they were hugely concerned about the safety of their monarch.
Nsude stated that the traditional ruler committed no crime by his insistence on preserving the collective inheritance of the people.
“We appeal to the state government to intervene in this matter and stop these individuals who want to mortgage the future of our children by selling our communal land,” he said.
When contacted, ASP Mathew Alli, who incidentally is the Investigation Police Officer (IPO) of the matter, said that he had no hand in the travails of the monarch.
He said that only the police prosecutor could speak on the matter as the traditional ruler would soon be arraigned.
Independent
