Community under the shadow of death
Sunday, 23 January 2011 00:00 Steve Uzoechi
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• As civil war land mines cause fear

Steve Uzoechi, Owerri

For residents of the Ohaji Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State, death is only one step away.

All over the community, there is palpable fear, making every second, every minute a moment of survival, as forty years after the end of the civil war, residents of the community still live in the throes of fear of deadly explosion.



Live bombs were mid-week recovered from a construction site close by the country home of the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Chief Goodluck Opiah.







The lethal explosives were discovered by workers at the site of a Skills Acquisition Centre being constructed in Ohaji Egbema council area of the state by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The bombs which were removed by the Humanitarian Deminers from the Ministry of Defence stationed at the Mine Action Centre, Owerri, were said to have been buried during the Nigerian civil war and still live and dangerous.

Deactivating the bombs, the Director of Media and Field Administration, Dr Emeka Uhegbu, told newsmen that the discovery of the bombs was an indication that there may be more bombs in the location but said his men would scan the entire area within the week for more explosive devices.

Three 81mm mortar bombs and one anti-tank rocket have been so far recovered from the area while probing continues.

Speaking at the site of recovery, a community leader, Prince Ifeanyi, while thanking the Deminers noted that the site for the skill acquisition centre was a military barrack during the Nigerian civil war which was first used by the Biafran soldiers and later, the Federal troops. He urged the deminers to do a thorough scan of their community as they have in the past lost some kinsmen to inexplicable explosions.

Also commenting on the incident was the Vice Chairman of Ohaji Egbema council area, Hon. Okiro Anayo Innocent, who also expressed the gratitude of the council for the life-saving recovery made by the deminers. He, however, urged the deminers to return and sweep their entire council area for more explosive, saying that at some point during the civil war, that the Ohaji Egbema council area was a war front

Under late President Umaru Yar’Adua, the Ministry of Defence had inaugurated a committee on the pre-enumeration of landmine victims and the removal of landmines, unexploded ordinances and explosive remnants of war from war affected parts of the country in compliance with the United Nations Mine Ban Treaty (MBI).

It would be recalled that early last year, over one hundred and twenty-three live mortar bombs were recovered in Thomas Aquinas Secondary School, Isiala Mbano, a stone throw to Governor Ikedi Ohakim’s country home following series of technical analyses and investigations by the demining team.

Twelve anti-personnel bombs, four hand grenades and one unstable mortar bomb, unfit for transport had been destroyed at the site of discovery. Two ‘Ogbunigwes’ (Ojukwu buckets) and frames for anti-aircraft missiles were also recovered.

Commenting on the capacities of the bombs, Yakubu had explained that for each of the bombs, anything within the ‘beating distance’ of 2km radius of the bomb was dangerously within its impact area. It was observed that Governor Ikedi Ohakim’s country home at Okohia, Isiala Mbano LGA of Imo State, had fallen within the range of the beating distance.

Members of the community who had watched bemused as the bombs were being excavated from the earth literally went into jubilation as the bombs were being evacuated by the demining team. Speaking on the issue, the traditional ruler of the community, Eze Charles Onuoha, expressed his relief and gratitude to the Humanitarian Demining team saying there had been rumours of the existence of such deadly explosives following activities of the Biafran army in the area during the civil war.

Over one thousand explosive remnants of war have since been decommissioned in Imo State by the Humanitarian Deminers.

Ironically, while the gallant life-saving efforts of the Humanitarian Deminers have continued to attract commendation from individuals, state governments and communities across the country, the Ministry of Defence which is their parent ministry seems to have turned their back on the deminers.

The Nigerian Compass gathered from very competent sources that the bomb hunters who have traversed all the states of the South-East and states of the South-South geo-political zone affected by the Nigerian Civil war deactivating and recovering explosive remnants of war have not been paid by the Ministry of Defence for eighteen months now. This lamentable situation is presently hampering the efficacy and pace of the bomb recovery project across all the Southern-east and South-South states where the impact of the civil war was felt.

In an inteview with the Nigerian Compass, the Chief Consultant of the Humanitarian Deminers, Dr. Bala Yakubu, who chose not to go into details of the constraints and challenges currently facing his team simply said, “If government had shown as much interest in the recovery of these bombs as the Nigerian Compass newspaper had shown, this issue would have been a thing of the past considering when we were commissioned for this project.”

Often, the general consensus at most sites of the demining exercise has been that government should show more interest in making lands safe again as there are still many locations in the war affected regions that need demining. Until then, Nigerians in the war affected regions, may well be threading on dangerous grounds.

again

The scars of the civil war can still be found in the South-East.

I wonder how many bombs remain in the East that have not been discovered yet.

The same compass newspaper ezeuche did not believe when it says Massob has abandoned ibos in exchange for GEJ hard currency is now believed by you now. I ask who reads compass?

Abeg make una c me ooo, i dey for corner. Not 4 me and my people.