Your Excellency,
Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru,
Governor of Ebonyi State.
I write with a deep sense of concern regarding your recent actions and pronouncements following the tragic incident in Okporojo village involving the loss of innocent lives. Like every well-meaning Ebonyi citizen, and a daughter of Amasiri, I unequivocally condemn the killings, destruction of property, and any form of violence in our communities.
However, Your Excellency, it is important to respectfully state that the sweeping sanctions imposed solely on Amasiri community (My People) raise serious concerns of bias, collective punishment, and denial of fair hearing, which are inconsistent with the principles of justice, equity, and due process that your administration has pledged to uphold and claim to be upholding.
While the crime committed is grievous and deserving of decisive action, dissolving the entire Amasiri power structure—traditional rulers, town union executives, village heads, and government appointees—without transparent investigations or judicial findings appears punitive rather than corrective. Criminal acts are committed by individuals or identifiable groups, not entire communities.
Justice loses its moral authority when it punishes the innocent alongside the guilty.
Your assertion that government is not taking sides contrasts sharply with actions that appear to single out one community, despite the long-standing and complex nature of the boundary dispute involving multiple parties. True neutrality demands a balanced approach: an independent investigation, arrests and prosecution of the actual perpetrators, and equal scrutiny of all communities involved in the conflict.
Your Excellency, peace built on perceived injustice is fragile. Decisions taken in moments of grief and public pressure must still align with fairness, the rule of law, and the constitutional rights of citizens. Otherwise, such actions risk deepening resentment, widening divisions, and prolonging the very crisis they seek to resolve.
Ebonyi people expect leadership that heals wounds, not policies that may unintentionally inflame them. We therefore respectfully urge your administration to:
Conduct an open, impartial, and security-led investigation into the killings
Hold only the proven perpetrators accountable
Review the blanket sanctions imposed on Amasiri community
Facilitate a genuinely neutral and inclusive peace process involving all affected communities
Your Excellency, history will remember not only the firmness of your decisions, but their fairness. We believe you have the capacity to correct this course and demonstrate that justice in Ebonyi State is not selective, but principled.
Yours respectfully,
A Concerned Citizen of Amasiri, Ekuma Ubaghala, Ebonyi State
Princess Dr Joy Omagha Idam
Publisher
Weekenders Magazine
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