By Peter Okutu

ABAKALIKI – A pregnant mother and her three children were feared dead in the early hours of yesterday at Achara-Unuhu village in Izzi-Unuhu Community of Abakaliki Local Government Area of Ebonyi State as a strange fire gutted their residence while they were all asleep.

The incident is said to have again heightened tension between Ezza and Izzi communities, which are only just coming out of a protracted war.

Sources told Vanguard that the deceased, Mrs. Chinyere Ogbonna Nwao-kpuru, and her children, were victims of a long-standing conflict between her husband, Mr. Ogbonna and his first wife, Ijeoma, due to her inability to bear him a child, which prompted him to marry a second wife.

Due to pressure from relatives and friends, Ogbonna was said to have gone ahead to marry another wife, Chinyere.

Ogbonna and his first wife, Ijeoma, are indigenes of Izzi community, while the deceased, Chinyere, hailed from Ezza community.

In her reaction, mother of the deceased, Mrs. Nwankwoagu Nwaokporo said: “I was in my room in the night when I heard someone shouting Jesus.

“I quickly rushed out to see what was happening. Smoke had engulfed the whole place but I managed to see someone running out from the room where Mrs. Chineyere Ogbonna and her child died.

“The person was a woman. The problem started when my son went ahead and paid the bride price of the second wife, Chinyere. Since then my son had known no peace.”

Confirming the incident, the Coordinator of Abakaliki Development Centre, Mrs. Franca Okpo, said she was sleeping when her special adviser called her that a woman and her sucking child was being burnt.

She added that she immediately arrived the scene and alerted the Police Divisional Officer of Izzi Local Government Area who later sent his men to handle the situation.

Communities at war

Also the traditional ruler of the community, His Royal Highness, Eze Alichi Unenyi, noted that the incident, if not properly nipped in the board, could lead to another communal war between Ezza community and Izzi people.

He called on the state government to quickly rescue the situation so that peace could return to the affected communities.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/06/pregnant-woman-3-children-burnt-to-death-in-ebonyi/