Stanley Uzoaru,Owerri
Some Igbo women under the aegis of the Assembly of Concerned Igbo Women of Nigeria (ACIWN) have condemned the alleged assault on Uloma Nwosu, first daughter of the former governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha, by the committee for the recovery of movable government properties set up by Governor Emeka Ihedioha.
The women among them first-born daughters in from the South-East, gathered in Owerri, the Imo State, capital to protest the alleged assault on Mrs Nwosu who is also the wife of the governorship candidate of the Action Alliance (AA) in the last election in the state.
National president of ACWN, Mrs Nwankwo Nwakaego, while addressing newsmen in Owerri, described the alleged slapping of Okorocha’s daughter as a taboo and barbaric and therefore demand cleansing rites according to Igbo custom and tradition.
According to Nwakaego “any man who raises his hand on any woman in Igbo land is not worthy of a man; he has committed a taboo. So, the young man that slapped our Ada, should be fished out to cleanse the woman and himself.
“What we demand is not just an apology from those behind the assault, but we are also calling on the Inspector General of Police to intervene just as in the case of Senator Elijah Abbo. He should investigate and arrest the young man alongside, Jasper Ndubuaku and the Chief of Staff to the governor who watched as she was being molested.
“Ihedioha should also prove to Igbo women that he did not send that boy to slap our daughter by submitting his CSO for investigation,” Nwakaego said.
“We urge the governor to protect women and not target certain people for victimisation; such should not continue,” Nwakaego said.
The women gave the governor 24 hours to produce those behind the assault or they would take the matter to an ancestral Igbo god “Amadioha” for justice.
The women also vowed to protest nude on every Igbo market day if the authorities refused to listen to their complaints.
Meanwhile, the committee chairman on recovery of movable government properties, Jasper Ndubuaku, has described the slapping allegation as a tissue of lies.
He asked: “How can we slap her with all the thugs and security agencies surrounding her; it is the lie of the century,” Ndubuaku said.