By Alumona Ukwueze

A 68-year-old visually impaired man, Anibeze Nnadi, from Umu-Ezike in Aku, Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State whose house was demolished six days ago by suspected thugs has cried out for justice.

Nnadi, who is now living with his aunt, Victoria Amuka, told Vanguard yesterday at Aku that he abandoned his ancestral home for fear of snuffing  life out of him by thugs suspected to be loyal to the suspended traditional ruler of the community, Christopher Okwor.

While calling on government and police to arrest and prosecute those behind the act, he pleaded for assistance to enable him rebuild the demolished building so that he can go back to his home.

Narrating his ordeal with the thugs, Mr. Nnadi explained that while he was asleep in the middle of the night, he heard gunshots at his homestead, adding that the thugs forced his doors open, tied his hands and mouth and laid  him face-down  on the floor while they demolished his home. He further said that it was the sixth time that he was attacked in such manner.

“I was sleeping in my home six nights ago when thugs came and started shooting sporadically. They broke my doors, tied my hands and mouth and demolished my home. My waist is severely aching now because they hit me on the floor.

“I don’t know what I have done to deserve this inhuman treatment. I am an orphan and I have no child. I don’t know why people want to spill my innocent blood in my ancestral home.

“I want government and police to apprehend those behind my ordeal because this is happening for the sixth time.

“I am grateful to God that I am alive to tell this story. My hope now is in God because I have not offended anybody,” he explained.

While reacting to the development, his aunt Victoria, who is a widow and mother of three told Vanguard that she had to take him to his house because the thugs destroyed all his belongings, including his bed.

She explained that elders in the community had scheduled peace talk  between Okwor and the visually impaired man today, May 12, 2024, expressing shock that the house was pulled down even before the date for the peace talk.

She further explained that the burden of caring for her three children and the visually impaired man, Nnadi, has become overwhelming because her husband is late and she has no one assisting her financially.

The eldest man in Nnadi’s family, Daniel Ezemagu, while condemning the destruction of the home of the visually impaired man, described the action as inhuman and called on the state government to implement the recommendation of the committee set up for the matter when the demolition happened in 2021.

However, Prince Ugonna Okwor, the eldest son of the suspended traditional ruler who reacted on behalf of his father, denied leading thugs to demolish the visually impaired man’s home, alleging that some agents working against the reinstatement of his father as the traditional ruler of the community were behind the act.

He explained that in order to stop the miscreants from further destruction of the visually impaired man’s home, his family had built a fence around the house, adding that he was surprised that both the fence and the building were pulled down again to further smear the name of his family.