From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
People of Umueji village, Ufuma, Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State, ended the year 2022 in an angry mode. They are sad that their only community-owned primary school has been handed over to the Catholic Church in their area without due consultations.
Unable to stomach the pain, the villagers, numbering over 100, defied the busy festive period of the Yuletide and trooped to Awka Government House, Awka, to register their grievances to the Governor Chukwuma Soludo, protesting the alleged ceding of their primary school to the Catholic Church.
According to the villagers, Umueji Community Primary School was built on community land in 1973 through communal efforts but the government ceded and gazetted that it now belongs to St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Umueji, without even informing the community.
The protesters added that contributions towards acquisition of the land for the school and erecting various structures were done by members of the village across various Christian denominations and traditional worshippers.
The protesting villagers carried various placards which exposed their grievances. Some of the placards displayed read: “Community School Umueji is a communal effort not Roman Catholic Church property”, “Reverse the gazette or support abolition of primary school in Umueji,” “Community Primary School Umueji was built by the community not any religious group, return it to us – original owners”, and “Give us back our school, it is not Roman Catholic Church property.”
Leader of the protesters, Mr Josiah Okoli, argued that no one from the community had ever contemplated giving out the school to any individual or religious institution since it was founded in 1973 because it was a communal effort with clear objective of servicing all the population.
Also speaking, the former chairman of Umueji community, Chief Benson Ilechukwu, and the deputy president general, Ufuma Development Union (UDU), Mr Solomon Umeaba, appealed to Soludo to quickly address the anomaly to avert impending crisis and mayhem which such situation could instigate in the village.
“We love the government and we are always in support of what will move the state forward. We are appealing to Governor Soludo to come to our rescue. Some are planning to take laws into their hands due to the outburst by the church that we cannot do anything. As people have returned for Christmas, anything can happen if the government fails to address this. Mr Governor should make quick pronouncements to calm the community,” Ilechukwu said.
Contributing, Mr Charles Onyebueke, who is the chairman, School Base Management Committee (SBMC) of the school, and the chairman, Parents Teachers Association (PTA), Mr Raymond Ilechukwu, said they were neither informed nor consulted by anyone before the school was handed over to the Catholic Church.
On her part, 80-year-old Mrs Ebelechukwu Mercy Okoli, recalled how they all contributed in erecting the school in the 1970s, through fetching of woods, water, sands, donation of cements and others, and implored the governor not to allow the oldest community primary school in the whole of Orumba North, Orumba South and Aguata to be handed over to any particular church.
A security man, who simply identified himself as Mr Mba from CSO’s office, pleaded with the protesters to go home and return at a later date in January 2023 as he had communicated the relevant stakeholders about their presence but none, including the governor, was available to address them.
But the protesters rejected the plea, recalling that it was same way the security dismissed them on December 15 when they embarked on their first protest visit, claiming then that government functionaries and governor were receiving a top presidential candidate who held a rally in the state that day.
After practically laying siege at the government house gate for several hours, the member representing Orumba North Constituency in Anambra State House of Assembly, Hon. Emeka Afforka, who saw them while driving to the government house, alighted and implored his constituents to return home as he would communicate the appropriate authorities about their grievances, using their signed protest letters and placards.
“I am driving in for a meeting with the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy matters. I have heard your complaints. I am not happy about it. I have read information on your placards. I will relate your information to Mr Governor and other principal officers. I am sure the government will do something to address your grievances. Just go home and remain peaceful. Three of your leaders can follow me to register the protest letters,” Aforka stated.
The protest letter addressed to the governor written under the banner of Umueji Progressive Union, Ufuma obtained by Daily Sun was signed by Mr Josiah Okoli, Hon. Okezie Umeaba, Mr Charles Onyebueke, Mrs Roseline Offor, Mr Bermard Okonkwo and Mr Christain Ihuefo.
The petitioners in the letter prayed for a peaceful resolution of the misunderstanding surrounding the handing over of the community school to the church while also urging the governor for a timely consideration of their request to avert serious intra-communal crisis in Umueji-Ufuma.
When the reporter contacted the Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Prof Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, she confirmed that government actually handed over the said primary school to the church but the action was taken before the coming of the Soludo administration.
“This happened during the twilight of the Obiano administration. It was not our own making but we realised that the decision was fully gazetted as a government action. In that kind of situation, you don’t take some hasty decisions. I will table the complaints of the people to the governor and I believe that the matter will be deliberated upon during the exco meeting. If the government decides to review the decision, something different can happen but for now, I advise the people to remain calm and law abiding because due process will be applied in the matter,” she said.