By DOUGLAS OKORO

The Women of Amaeze Community in Ishiagu, Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi, on Wednesday, held a peaceful protest, demanding an end to alleged external interference in the community leadership and quarry affairs.

The women, who marched round the community, bearing placards with different inscriptions, such as ?We want peace in our community? and ?People who are not from Amaeze should allow our leaders to work for their people?, declared their support for the Ogbonna Nwaeni-led Amaeze Development Union.

They alleged that powerful interests outside the community were trying to frustrate the union?s decision to partner with Zotman Nigeria Limited as the community?s preferred quarry operator at the Mboro Ajaenyim quarry site.

Spokespersons for the protesters said the interference had become a distraction to the Nwaeni-led administration and warned that the situation, if not checked, could escalate into a crisis.

One of the protest leaders, Mrs Lydia Anyim, said the women were compelled to demonstrate in order to protect the peace of the community and prevent unnecessary tension.

She explained that although the community had collectively chosen Zotman Nigeria Limited over Hephziba and Beulah, some external actors were allegedly trying to impose their preferred firm on the people.

?We don?t want this issue to degenerate into needless crisis.

?We hear that there are powerful personalities outside our community, who are fuelling this crisis and trying to subvert the will of Amaeze people.

?So, we decided to embark on the peaceful protest, not by anyone?s inducement, to demonstrate our total support for our chairman and his executive, and to warn those who are trying to instigate crisis in our land to steer clear of Amaeze.

?All we need is peace. If there is crisis, it is our children and husbands who will be killed, injured or even arrested.

?That is why we, as women, decided to come out to demand peace in our community,? Anyim said.

Another protester, Mrs Stella Uka, said that Amaeze had in the past suffered violent crises that claimed lives, with property worth millions of naira destroyed.

She said that the women took to the street to avert a repeat of such tragedies.

?We do not want anything that will truncate the existing peace we are enjoying under the current administration.

?Amaeze has had its own share of turbulence, and we do not want to go back to that era,? Uka said.

Also speaking, Mrs Clementina Umeh urged those allegedly being used as agents of crisis to have a rethink and allow peace to reign.

She said that the community had in its recent emergency General Assembly overwhelmingly voted in favour of Zotman, adding that the decision should be respected.

?If they will not respect our choice of Zotman as a community, let both companies leave our community. All we want is peace,? she said.

The protesters further called on the leadership of the Ishiagu Community Development Union to intervene and de-escalate the looming crisis.

They also urged sons and daughters of Amaeze, both at home and in the diaspora, to rally behind the Nwaeni-led administration in order to sustain the prevailing peace in the community.

Nwaeni in a brief interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said that the right to protest against perceived injustice is enshrined in the country?s Constitution.

According to him, it is the right of the women to speak out against what they alleged was an undue external interference in the affairs of the community.

?As long as they did not constitute a breach of the peace and order in the community and have remained peaceful in their protest, I have no problem with that,? Nwaeni said. (NAN)

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