… As NAWOJ kicks
By: Felix Ikpotor
Embattled leader of Etche Legislative Assembly in Rivers State, Mrs Cynthia Nwala has accused the council chairman Mr Obinna Anyanwu of allegedly conspiring with the chief security officer of the council Mr Prince Onyeche to torture, stripped her and also vandalized her car .
She said the attack on her on Monday, was part of plots to remove her as leader of the assembly.
Mrs Nwala while narrating her ordeal to journalists said that after the screening of the supervisory councilors and special advisers, she decided to go with the mace of the assembly as agreed by all councilors.
She said the deputy leader of the assembly with some councilors and the chairman were plotting to remove her, stressing that since the council was under renovation, she deem it necessary to secure the mace as the leader of the assembly.
According to her, the plan to remove her as leader is allegedly hinged on the fact that she is not an indigene of Etche local government area but married to the area.
The house leader said she alerted the police of her ordeal and called on all women groups in the state to rise up and condemn the act.
However, the council chairman, Obinna Anyanwu has denied attacking the assembly leader.
Anyanwu in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Robinson Oluo said the news making rounds was not true.
Oluo in a statement said: “For the record, Hon. (Dr.) Obinna Anyanwu never directed his Chief Security Officer to harass, intimidate or assault any serving Councillor of Etche Legislative Assembly.
The Chief Security Officer to the council chairman is not a member of Etche Legislative Assembly and will never be part of their internal issues.
He added: “It is also important to clearly state that the Chief Security Officer to the Council Chairman never attacked or harassed the leader of the house as he is not one of the councillors and the Etche Local Government Council leadership has much respect for the assembly”.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, NAWOJ, Rivers State Chapter, has condemned the attack on Mrs Nwala.
Chairperson of the association , Mrs Susan Serekara-Nwikhana in an interview described the attack as barbaric and an unpardonable assault on womanhood.
The NAWOJ chairperson said the association would not condone any act capable of demeaning womenfolk in the society.
Serekara-Nwikhana called on civil society organisations, the International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, and the Rivers State Police Command to rise up to the occasion and ensure that the council chairman, Mr. Obinna Anyanwu and his Chief Security Officer, Prince Chinedu Onyeche, face the full wrath of the law.
Similarly, women from the area in their numbers protested at the Government House in Port Harcourt on Wednesday calling on the political class to halt the harrassment of women in politics.
The women dressed in black carried placards with inscription: “Stop violence against women in politics”.
