8 arrested over Enugu slave war

Enugu State Police Command, yesterday, arrested about eight persons over the ongoing violence at Alor Uno in Nsukka Local Government Area of the state, following supremacy battle over alleged slavery. Ugbene and Ejuona communities in Alor Uno have been involved in supremacy battle over
who are the aborigines or slaves in the last 40 years. The matter, however, reached a climax when a young Ugbene man, Arinze Ngwoke, was, on April 11, reportedly chased by youths from Ejuona and attacked with machete for taking a road reserved for the aborigines, Ejuona, who claimed that the Ugbene people are “slaves.” Ngwoke is the second victim after Izuchukwu Ezema, who was alleged to have been attacked in March and is still in hospital due to machete cuts inflicted on him for passing through the same route. Weekend, a woman, Onyedikachukwu Omeje was attacked with her three months old baby by some youths, who claimed to come from Ejuona, for also trespassing on the same forbidden road. Two other women, Augustina Oke and Chidera Attah, have also been attacked for allegedly committing same offence. However, in the early morning of yesterday, youths from Ugbene were said to have re-grouped and attacked some Ejuona people suspected to be the ring leaders of their people. The youths reportedly attacked the house of one Emmanuel Onah among others and vandalised it, prompting policemen from the Nsukka Area Command to arrest some Ugbene people including a headmaster, Theophilus Ngwu alias Inter-State, Emeka Enyoka and one Sunday Nwa-Ejor, among about eight others whose sons and daughters were said to have carried out the reprisal attack. Sources told Vanguard that the suspects, who were with the police, were arrested when their sons or daughters fled the town to evade arrest. Meanwhile, the Police Area Commander for Nsukka, Mr. Monday Kuryasi, has invited seven leaders each from both Ejuona and Ugbene for a peace meeting with Governor Ifeanyi Ugwanyi at Government House, today.