Uneasy Calm Pervades Ogwashi-Uku As Unknown Policemen Abduct Association Leader

By Bright Ononye

The internal crisis involving Delta State’s Ogwashi-Uku community’s monarch, His Royal Majesty Obi Ifechukwude Aninshi Okonjo and some of his subjects over land related matters is far from abating as the whereabouts of Mr. Patrick Izuegbenem Osamor, President of Ogwashi-Uku Development Association remains unknown five days after he was allegedly abducted by some policemen.

Some anonymous sources who claimed to be stalwarts of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) told ATLANTICNEWSONLINE in Owashi-Uku on Wednesday that Osamor was picked last Saturday by some policemen suspected to have come from the Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Force Headquarters Abuja ostensibly with respect to the protest match to Delta State Government House last Thursday.

During the protest which was held at the Government House main gate Osamor along with many other indigenes of Ogwashi-Uku had called on the Government of Delta State to intervene and remedy what they described as abnormality in the management of lands in Ogwashi-Uku.

During the protest to the Government House, Mr. Osamor was one of those who spoke to journalists on behalf of the Ogwashi-Uku community and in his words: “We are here because of the land policy of Obi of Ogwashi-Uku, HRM Ifechukwude Aninshi Okonjo.

“Our grouse is that our land is being sold by him directly under the false claim that he is the owner of the lands in Ogwashi-Uku. His claim lacks basis in law, in tradition and even in the Constitution. He has no such power. He is only holding the land in trust for the indigenes. He is only a custodian and such custodianship does not confer ownership on him.

“What he is doing is a betrayal of the trust we have in him because he sells the land without referring to us. He keeps saying he was recovering community land from whoever had taken them but the question is: where is the money he realized from the sales so far?

“We have come to the government house to appeal to our Governor to intervene and remedy the situation so that Ogwashi-Uku can be in peace.”

Sources told ATLANTICNEWSONLINE that barely 72 hours after the peaceful protest that took Mr. Izuegbenem Osamor and others to the Government House, Delta State House of Assembly and Aniocha South Local Government Area Headquarters, Osamor was abducted and reportedly whisked away initially to an unidentified hotel.

Since his abduction, no official statement has come from either the Police Force Headquarters or Delta State Police Command confirming who abducted him and for which offence.

Concerned members of the APC who craved anonymity in Ogwashi-Uku have therefore appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Inspector General of Police and Delta State Governor to quickly intervene and release Osamor unconditionally from detention or officially charge him to court if he has committed any known offence.