The President of Umuada Ebonyi State (Home and Diaspora), Mrs Charity-Ada Chukwuemeka, was attacked alongside other women on August 20, 2022, while they were meeting at the People’s Club, Abakaliki. In this interview with EDWARD NNACHI, she discusses the incident and urges relevant authorities to intervene
Tell us what happened at the People’s Club, the venue of Ebonyi women’s August meeting, on Saturday, August 20, 2022.
What I witnessed that day was terrible, and it still remains fresh in my mind even as we speak. On that Saturday, the women of Ebonyi State, representing about 17 women’s organisations groups, came together to have our August meeting in order to interact with one another.
Such an opportunity to meet and interact remains a sure way of sharing ideas, prospects, and proffering solutions to the teething problems facing the female population in our society.
Many resource persons were invited from outside the state-Kebbi, Benin, and Anambra states as well as Abuja to come and talk to the women and share their knowledge with us. This is not politics. It has been in the state and in other states.
Last year, I mean August 31, 2021, the same event was held at the Pastoral Centre, Abakaliki. We invited the people, irrespective of party inclinations, to the event.
We personally approached the Speaker’s wife to come and be one of our resource people, but she refused. None of them answered us, which was why we decided to invite outsiders to come and talk to us.
Now, we invited those women from outside and talked to our own women who willingly gathered at the People’s Club in Abakaliki to learn and equally share their experiences with one another.
As preparations were going on and the women started trooping in, and as the DJ was setting up his equipment and some boys were erecting the canopies and helping us set and clean the chairs – that was when the Ebubeagu operatives came in and started shooting sporadically.
All the women, many of them old widows, fell into the gutters by the roadside, and a good number of them almost got hit by upcoming vehicles. All of us ran for our dear lives.”
We could hear some of them saying, “If you don’t leave here now, we will kill you.” Then one of them said, “Shoot any human being in wrappers.” It was terrible.
At that point, since we could not control the situation, we started calling the women, whom we heard were already approaching Abakaliki, to make a U-turn for their own safety. I recall that a bullet passed through the legs of a Hausa woman during the incident, and I thank God she wasn’t hit by that bullet.
Besides the alleged chaos caused, were your members arrested?
Yes, they arrested some of those people who were mounting canopies for us and took them to Government House, Abakaliki. These people were beaten. I mean, they beat them up, naked them and took them to their facility in Government House and dumped them there, while also threatening to take them to court and prosecute them.
Except that I ran away in the midst of that incident because the gunshots lasted for several minutes, I would have been able to know the number of those arrested. But those arrested were many, and a good number of the women were flogged. It was such a terrible and traumatising experience. The Ebubeagu people also took our chairs, canopies, and other equipment meant for the meeting with them to the Government House.
The state government alleged that the said disrupted August meeting was at the instance of unknown gunmen. What do you think?
With what happened on Saturday, I’m so convinced that there are no unknown gunmen in Ebonyi State. If they (the Ebonyi State Government) can label us mere women as unknown gunmen, then it means that there are no unknown gunmen in Ebonyi State.
This is the gospel truth, and I say so because if women who were happily gathered for a social meeting could be tagged as unknown gunmen, it means the widely reported incidents of unknown gunmen in the state are fake.
So, in Ebonyi State, unknown gunmen tie wrappers, they are widows; breastfeeding mothers; and all that? This is ridiculous. How could old women who tied big, big Asoke be unknown gunmen? These women work day and night on the farms and just needed a day to come together, relax, and interact with their fellow women. How could any right-thinking person possibly call these unknown gunmen? Anyway, it was just a mere annual August meeting, and I don’t know if unknown gunmen also do meet at the exact venue where we chose for the event.
Did the women write and notify the authorities of their meeting?
We did. We wrote and informed all the security agencies, including the Nigeria Police Force, and notified them of the meeting. We even wrote to His and Her Excellencies’ offices, but our letters would not be acknowledged. I think there was a plot to just frustrate this programme.
Could you imagine that one Thursday, I mean on August 18, they started circulating fake news on social media that there would be an IPOB sit-at-home on that Saturday, August 20? I said, “Which sit-at-home order again, that IPOB didn’t authorise?”
There was no proof at all that IPOB had ordered a sit-at-home home. IPOB, we know, will always issue a statement telling people of their sit-at-home. But in this case, there was nothing like that.
The state government have also said such meetings are held in the villages and not in the urban areas. What’s your take on this?
It’s a pure and cheap lie from the pit of hell. I was Governor David Umahi’s Technical Assistant on Women’s Mobilisation and once Ohanaeze Ndigbo (Ebonyi State Chapter) Women’s Leader. I once organised the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Women’s Wing August meeting. It was held in Abakaliki, the state capital, and I remember women from across the 13 local government areas were in attendance.
If the women actually wrote and notified the authorities of their meeting last Saturday, why did you think the police weren’t on the ground?
Last year, we wrote to the police and told them of our meeting, and they were on the ground. This year again, we wrote and informed them, but I don’t know what’s happening here. It appears Ebubeagu has taken over police work in Ebonyi State, from what we are seeing here. To me, the police cannot do anything here now because they have been sidelined. For instance, if you move from one pole to another on our roads, you will see Ebubeagu and not the normal police. What does that tell you? These Ebubeagu people even collect higher ‘roger’ (bribe) than the police, which we used to complain about previously. It’s this bad in Ebonyi State. We are deeply bothered. We are worried. The police are better placed to tell us why they are allowing Ebubeagu to take over their role.
Some argue Ebubeagu was established to curtail the ugly activities of herdsmen in the South-East region, like the Amotekun in the South-West zone. Do you think the security outfit is living up to expectations in the zone?
Of course, there are still good ones among these Ebebeagu operatives, but the bad eggs among them are the ones casting their names in a bad light. These are the ones that are being used as willing tools by the state government to cause mayhem here in Ebonyi State.
The intimidation and harassment being meted towards Ebonyi people by this security militia is worrisome and demeaning.
With what you experienced in the hands of Ebubeagu, what’s your perception of Ebonyi State currently?
Honestly, I have been thinking too much about this state lately. I don’t know where our leaders are taking us, as we speak now, I’m afraid. I don’t know what will happen to me after now. I don’t even know what will happen in this state tomorrow, but all I know is that it will take God’s grace to rearrange and re-engineer Ebonyi State.
Eedris Abdulkareem, in his song, says Nigeria Jaga Jaja and I want to say Ebonyi Jaga Jaja, because it has become this bad in the state. Everything is politics and politicised.
In this state, you can’t see your neighbour (maybe you are in PDP) and he’s in APC and then greet him good morning. It can’t happen here. It’s war all the time. The APC members will declare PDP (Peoples Democratic Party), APGA (All Progressives Grand Alliance) members as enemies. They will declare LP (Labour Party) members to be enemies.
In fact, if you are not an APC member you are an automatic enemy to them and you will be in tears. They will suppress you by all means. Ebonyi people are not happy. We are suffering and crying. The women are not happy, and so are the youths. Forget about all the green-washing they do here.
You sent a SoS to the Inspector-General of Police, Amnesty International, and other rights groups. Has there been any intervention?
We have not gotten any response from any quarters. We even appealed to the Governor of the state, Engr. David Umahi, to launch a probe into the attack, because whether you like it or not, he’s the father of the state. After all, we gave him the votes that landed him as governor. No one or group has responded or offered assistance as of yet.
Instead, what we are seeing on social media is that it’s not Ebubeagu that attacked us. God knows better and the truth will one day come out.
However, we are not discouraged and will still take our complaint to higher quarters, if there are any, to seek redress. We know that God will fight for their mothers, widows, and sisters, whom they attacked last Saturday.
Is it true that since last Saturday you have been declared wanted?
Yes, but they are looking for themselves, their mothers, and their sisters, not me. I don’t have any business with them, and they won’t see me.
As they are busy pursuing me, God will deal with them. What’s my offence? It’s because I raised the alarm of the Ebubeagu operatives’ attack on nursing mothers, widows, and poor women. That’s just my offence, and since then, I have been receiving all manner of life-threatening calls and all that.
What are your prayers to the relevant authorities in the midst of all this?
I want them to look into this matter properly and bring those indicted to justice. They should come to our aid. Ebonyi people, especially young women, are in bondage.
