An 89 years old widow, and alleged classmate of former head of State, Yakubu Gowon, Mrs. Bessie Onwuazor, of Obodo-Umuru Village in Adazi-Ani, Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra state has sent out shrill ‘save our soul’ (SOS) message to President Muhammadu Buhari, the Inspector General of Police, and Gowon, amongst others.
She was asking for their individual and corporate intervention and assistance to recover her houses she claimed were dispossessed forcefully by some named persons.
She has also made same appeal to a consortium of the human rights community to help her retrieve her late husband’s houses in Abakaliki ,Ebonyi State from those she alleged had forcefully chased her and her children out of the premises which enabled them sell the houses.
She want Gowon who she stated was her classmate at Abakaliki in those days, to use his position to prevail on the Federal Government, led by President Buhari and the Inspector General of Police to retrieve the houses for her and her children, all of whom were thoroughly harassed and hence now live in mortal fear, even in their village in Anambra state.
Mrs. Onwuazor, the surviving widow of late Mr. Beniah Onwuazor, said she was born in 1927, got married in 1948 to her husband and lived all through in the house in Abakaliki.
That she also had all her children there. That they had no issue with anyone or transacted any business of any kind with anyone concerning the houses.
The main house where they lived, according to her contained 36 rooms with toilet and bath rooms within.
Unfortunately her husband died in 1993.
Addressing journalists yesterday in Onitsha, Mrs. Onwuazor who now walks with the aid of a stick was assisted by five human right groups and their leaders, including Center for Human Rights and Peace Advocacy, led by Mr. Peter Onyegiri; Human Rights Consortium, led by Anyim Sunday Anyim; Human Rights Preservers, led by Simeon Orie; Human Rights Club, led by Vincent Elechi and the Association of Paralegals led by Rev. Johnson Uneke and 35 other human rights groups.
She said that her life and that of her two male children Chijioke Onwuazor and Mmaduaburochukwu, whom she said have been intimidated out of Abakaliki, were under constant threat by those who chased them out and sold their houses.
Hear her, “I have reported the case to International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, Abakaliki Branch, but immediately the names of those involved in the illegal and illicit acquisition of our property, were mentioned, FIDA members withdrew from the matter”.
The mother of six – four ladies all married and two male adults – said that after the death of her husband, she stayed in one of the houses for some years and later rented all the rooms out and relocated to her town, Adazi -Ani village and handed over the buildings to somebody to take care of.
“However, one day a man called me a well-known politician in Abakaliki in Ebonyi state who is close to the corridors of power, (name withheld) called to inform me that we are no more the owners of the two buildings located at Afikpo Street in Abakaliki.
“That was how the buildings was sold without my consent and those of my six children, and in one of the compounds a two storey building has been built on it after our house was knocked down.”
However, leaders of the human rights groups who accompanied the woman to newsmen in Onitsha, who spoke through Mr. Peter Onyegiri and Mr. Anyim Sunday Anyim, urged the Federal Government, and President Buhari, the Inspector General of Police and other well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the authorities concerned to investigate the circumstances that led to the eviction and alleged sale of the properties of Mrs. Onwuazor, at Afikpo Street Ebonyi state, adding that they will fight for the woman and her children until justice is done to them.
From Chuks Collins, Awka
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