The indigenous people of Iyiowa Odekpe town, located in Ogbaru Local Government Area in Anambra State, have destroyed several of the town’s properties in protest against the residents’ refusal to be coerced into paying taxes.
The people who peacefully demonstrated at the Anambra State Government House claimed to be from the Southeast and to have settled in Iyiowa Odekpe. However, we find it surprising that even though they own properties in the region, the natives continue to harass and threaten them.
Speaking at the government house, the protest leader, Dr. Tony Chukwunoso Princewill, claimed that last Wednesday’s invasion by the indigenous people resulted in the destruction of millions-worth of stores, automobiles, structures, and merchandise.
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“A total of 10 story buildings and 30 vehicles were burned down by the hoodlums. The hoodlums also inflicted bodily injuries on residents during the attack.
“The problem started when we refused to continue to pay multiple levies to them. In the layout, we have over 10,000 stores and every quarter of the month we are forced to pay N10,000 mandatory levies to them. We pay N10,000 for every store.
“In fact, we now pay them for anything we do in houses we build with our own hard-earned money.
“We have reported the matter to the police authorities and the State Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Community Matters, Hon. Tony Collins Nwabunwanne, for prompt action, but up till this moment, no positive response has been made.
“So we are calling on the state government to help us look into the matter and find an actionable way of resolving the issue.”
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Chukwuma Soludo, the governor of Anambra State, denounced the incident and gave the command for everyone responsible to be found and held accountable during his speech to the demonstrators.
Representing him was Chief of Staff Ernest Ezeajughi, who gave the demonstrators the assurance that the government would step in.
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