Ebonyi youths protest Commissioner’s death

Uba Group

BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI  

A group, known as Irate Youths from Ezza South Local Government Area, Ebonyi State, embarked on a protest, yesterday, over the death of the state’s former Commissioner for Infrastructure Development, Fidelis Nweze.

The group staged the protest at Onueke and disrupted both vehicular and human movements along the Abakaliki-Afikpo express road for almost an hour.

Recall that Nweze died on Tuesday in an Abuja hospital from complications arising from surgery.

Our findings revealed that Nweze underwent the surgery to correct intestine injury sustained from the accident he was involved in, on Saturday, in Enugu State.

The youths besieged the express road in their numbers chanting songs.

They carried placards with inscriptions like, “We need Investigation into Nweze’s death”, “Engr Nweze’s death, one too many”, “Furnish us with more details into his mysterious death,” among others.

They used tyres and empty drums to block the road, thereby forcing travelers to either wait or turn back to their original destinations.

Several efforts by some stakeholders of the area to calm the situation proved abortive as their appeals fell on deaf ears.

It took the quick intervention of security personnel to restore normalcy and pave the way for motorists and commuters travelling through the area.

Meanwhile, all the major markets, shops and other business centres within and outside the Abakaliki metropolis complied with the directive of the state government to observe Wednesday as a public holiday in honour of the departed Commissioner.