Women of Amaeze Community in Ishiagu, Ivo LGA after a protest march round the community on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025.
Women of Amaeze community in Ishiagu, Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi, on Wednesday embarked on a peaceful protest, demanding an end to alleged external interference in the leadership and quarry affairs of the community.
The women, who marched round the community bearing placards with 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 Amaeze Development Union (ADU) led by Mr Ogbonna Nwaeni.
They alleged that powerful interests outside Amaeze 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.
Mrs Lydia Anyim, one of the leaders of the protest, 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 Amaeze community had collectively chosen Zotman Nigeria Limited (ZML) 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 fueling 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, stressed that Amaeze had in the past suffered violent crises that claimed lives and destroyed property worth millions of naira.
She said that the women took to the roads 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 emergency General Assembly held recently overwhelmingly voted in favour of Zotman and that the decision should be respected.
“If they will not respect our decision 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 (ICDU) 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 our correspondent said that the right to protest against perceived injustice is enshrined in the country’s Constitution.
He further said that it was the right of the women to speak out against what they alleged was an undue external interference in the affairs of the community.
“As along as they did not constitute themselves breach to the peace and orderliness of the community and have remained peaceful in their protest; I have no problem with that,” he said. END//
