Rumuokwurusi Women Protest ‘Invasion By Etche, Iriebe Communities

Hundreds of Rumuokwurusi women, in Obio/Akpor local government area of Rivers State, have taken to the streets of the community in prayers against the continued attacks on their farmlands by suspected members of neighbouring Etche and Iriebe communities.
Our reporter gathered that the women, dressed in black, and in ages ranging from their twenties to those in their sixties and above, penultimate Friday marched throughout the community and its various out posts, including Eleme junction, Oil Mill Junction, Rumuokwurusi junction and Tank junction on the East-West road in prayers against the attacks.
Speaking to Independent Monitor last Thursday after a prayer session held in the community by the women, president of the Rumuokwurusi women general meeting, Chief (Mrs) Gloria Wali, said the continued prayers is the only defense they now have against the attacks by suspected members of Iriebe and Etche communities on their people.
According to Mrs. Wali, for two years now, “Iriebe and Umuotugbe community in Etche have stopped our women from going to their farms, chasing them away and claiming that the lands belong to them.
“They have raped our women, they have detained our husbands and sons unlawfully. Our man (Rizidor Worgu) from Rumuchorlu went to his farm, he was detained for six hours and thoroughly beaten up.
“Some of our women were detained for hours and had their phones and other valuables taken away from them, and raped. Even our youths are not spared. Some of them, including our youth president, have been unlawfully detained by the police.
“All these so that these Etche and Iriebe people can forcefully acquire our lands which we had been farming since 1960,” Wali said.
Our reporter gathered that at the crux of the matter are the parcels of farmland situate along the road to Igbo-Etche from Eleme junction, which lay on the borders Rumuokwurusi shares with Iriebe and Umuotugbe communities.
Mrs. Wali said the attempt to allegedly forcefully acquire these lands by the two communities, which had led to them also hiring thugs to inflict physical beating, humiliation and psychological trauma on Rumuokwurusi farmers, had scared away her community women from their farms, pushing them to deprivation and starvation.
“Most of us are farmers, for the past two years, a woman could not go to farm. What do you feed the next year. They go to the market to buy even garri, corn and everything else, because that is the only farmlands we have. And not everyone can afford to buy from the market.
“Some of us were married before 1962 and we have been farming in that place. How can the land now belong to Iriebe and Etche people in 2014 and 2016. The hunger is much for our women, and some of them are at home crying everyday to their God. But we are gathered as one to tell them that all hope is not lost.”
Wali said the level of deprivation and anger, resulting from the situation, had pushed their husbands and sons towards seeking self-help against the neigbouring communities. “But we are a peace-loving community. And we women felt as mothers that if we allow them go to fight, there will be communal clash and bloodshed. That is why we have taken to prayers for God to help us,” she said.
Wali said the attacks on their farms hand continued despite a legal action instituted in court against the attacks, and also despite official complaints made by the community at the police stations in Elimgbu, Oyigbo, SARS at Rukpoku, led by a Mr. Bello and the state police command alleging a probable conspiracy of silence by “those with the constitutional mandate to protect lives and property.”
She said that inspite these complaints, the Iriebe and Etche land grabbers have gone ahead to damage their crops, grade the farmlands under contention and allotted same to themselves and buyers.
“We are calling the governor, Chief (Barr) Nyesom Wike, to come and see what we are going through. We know he is a man of justice. We are calling on him to come to our aid before these people push our women into extinction,” she summed up.