Suspected Vandals Disrupt Work At Cassava Factory

The fabrication of various processing equipment at a cassava processing factory in Umuahia has been disrupted following an attack on the factory by suspected vandals in the area.

The Proprietor of the factory, located at Ubaha in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia, Eze Philip Ajomiwe, told newsmen in his palace recently that the facility was vandalised on January 23.

Ajomiwe, a renowned cassava farmer and the traditional ruler of Oriendu Autonomous Community, claimed that the vandals also attacked and damaged some sections of his palace, situated close to the factory.

He said that the attack had grounded the project being sponsored by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council of Nigeria.

The Tide reports that four vehicles, a computer set and other farming machines, a satellite dish, a borehole and a section of the factory and palace, worth several millions of naira, were vandalised.

Ajomiwe explained that three of the fabricators, who came from Lagos to do the job and also train 10 natives in the skill and operation of the machines, fled the community, in the wake of the attack.

“I had arranged for the fabricators to train some of our people on the job but they had hardly arrived at the palace when the youths invaded the place.

“They were smuggled out of the palace into safety to avoid being attacked by the rampaging youths,” he said.

He said that the fleeing workers had demanded that an apartment be rented for them outside the community before they would return to forestall possible attack.

The monarch alleged that the miscreants took advantage of “a family disagreement’’ between him and his son, to attack him.

He said that he went into hiding to escape being lynched by the “rampaging youths’’.

Ajomiwe explained that he was rescued and taken to Umuahia, by a team of anti-riot mobile policemen, deployed to the area with an Armoured Personnel Carrier, to quell the attack.

He alleged that his assailants were members of a gang that specialised in pipeline vandalism and gambling in the area.

He contended that the vandals took advantage of the squabble in his family to avenge his avowed war against pipeline vandalism.

The monarch further alleged that the vandals were sponsored by his detractors who, he said, were opposed to his emergence as the traditional ruler of the area in 2001.

Meanwhile, the Oriendu Autonomous Community Development Union has warned the monarch’s detractors to desist, henceforth from the plot and threat to the life of its traditional ruler.

This warning is contained in a statement jointly signed by the community’s traditional Prime Minister and Village Head, Chief Paul Anyalewechi and Chief Omeoga Omeoga, in Umuahia.

“We shall no longer tolerate the incessant manufacturing of lies against our traditional ruler. Enough is enough,’’ it stated.

Chief Emeka Ejiogu, representing Umuahia North Constituency in Abia House of Assembly, who was fingered by the monarch as one of his nemesis, denied sponsoring the attack on him.

Ejiogu, who spoke with newsmen in his Oriendu country home on Wednesday, however, admitted leading a campaign for the dethronement of the monarch.

He also admitted that he had convened several meetings in his house in pursuance of the cause.

“Ajomiwe should resign or we will dethrone him through a plebiscite,” he said, arguing that the monarch had become “unpopular’’ among his people,” Ejiogu said.