Rivers Women Protest Against Army Misconduct, Harassment

A group of women in Ibaa community in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State has protested against harassment and misconduct being allegedly perpetrated by military officers deployed to maintain peace in the community.
The aggrieved women who matched to Rumuji Police Station carrying placards bearing different inscriptions, called for the removal of soldiers deployed in the community.
They accused the soldiers of abandoning their primary duties to engage in various misconducts such as harassment of women and innocent youths of the community including nursing and pregnant women.
Two leaders of the protesting women, Esther Dimkpa and Mrs Aleruchi Njoku, who spoke to newsmen during the protest, alleged that the soldiers beat up a pregnant woman and ordered her to seat on the floor which was against the tradition of the land.
They further alleged that soldiers beat up another woman and two of her children and later detained them for days for refusing to carry locally refined illegal product which they seized from somewhere to their office.
The women leader told the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Rumuji Station that they are comfortable with the security provided by the police in collaboration with local vigilante in Ibaa and demanded the removal of soldiers who they accused of working with some individuals who have questionable character in the community.
Responding, the Acting Deputy Director Public Relations, Nigerian Army six Division, Port Harcourt, Major Jonah Danjuma, described the allegation as baseless, saying the soldiers deployed to the community are well trained and can not involved in such allegations being accused of.

By: Akujobi Amadi