Okuama-Ewu: Displaced villagers recount more sorrows from forest
AGGRIEVED refugees of the Okuama-Ewu community, Ughelli-South Local Government Area, dislocated in the aftermath of the incursion/occupation of their settlement by the Army over the March 14 killing of 17 military personnel, expressed more sorrows in the forest yesterday, vowing to return to their homeland, regardless of the military siege by next Saturday. The famished residents implored the state governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, to return them to their hometown on or before next Saturday, or they would return en masse and let the army kill them.
They spoke in one voice to Saturday Vanguard on our second visit to them in the forest, where they have taken cover in the past 43 days, rejecting the plan of the state government to locate an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp for them outside Okuama-Ewu. They said the Okoloba people, whom they had a communal dispute with, were busy harvesting their cassava from their farm and fish traps, and they could not afford to return to any place other than their fatherland.
However, a reliable government source said, “The Okuama-Ewu is a small community; for the management committee of the IDP camp to rebuild the place, it has to move them to a safer place; it cannot be in the bush.”
“There is a process in place; the Army is still occupying Okuama, and the government will get them to leave and the governor is handling that. But when the governor, Rt. Hon. Oborevwori visited Okuama and saw the ruins, he gave directives on what to do, so the people should calm down and cooperate with the management committee.”
Remove soldiers from our land—Mrs. Joseph, farmer
A farmer, Mrs. Evuarhere Joseph, said, “I have been in this bush since March 15, and we have been here suffering. I am not pleased with the news that the governor set up an IDP at Ewu. What we want is for him to remove soldiers from our town so we can return home. We want them to use the Okuama School and Anglican School as the IDP camp.
“We reject going to Ewu IDP camp. We want to go to Okuama. We have been suffering in the bush with no food or medical care. We want to go back home. The governor should bring food, mattresses, nets, and medicine.
”The governor should consider the plight of our children whose education has been truncated. The children have been suffering and there is no school attendance. I lost all the money I saved in the house, including everything I have worked for in life—my wrappers, garri, and palm oil stored in the home—I lost. Vanguard
