Uju community in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government area Rivers State has called on governments at all levels to assist them in restoring their homes and other critical infrastructures destroyed during a military invasion in 2016.
Paramount Ruler of the community, Chief Christopher Amanah, while appealing to government, explained that residents remained homeless in the community following the destruction in the wake of 31, December 2016 military invasion.
The invasion was a response to politically motivated gang violence in the area.
Amanah in a statement signed by a Community Leader, Chief Kingsley Nwaeze, lamented that “We cannot continue to be in exile. We have to return to our land, cultivate and harvest from our soil. We need the government to come to our aid.”
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The paramount ruler, however, commended Rivers government and security agencies for efforts towards restoration of peace and stability in entire ONELGA.
Bright Abali, Convener, Uju Restoration Initiative, said: “We have lost touch with the realities of life, forced into extreme poverty. We are homeless people, our houses and public infrastructures destroyed. Uju community situation is better seen than narrated.
“The younger generations in Uju may never know their family homes in their community of birth if nothing was done by the government and other stakeholders to save the situation, and urgently so”.
The community recently staged a peace walk in an attempt to seek the government’s attention towards the rebuilding of the community to make it habitable able.