Lawmaker representing Ngor-Okpala State Constituency at Imo House of Assembly, Obinna Egu has appealed to the youths of host communities to Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport to withhold their planned protest over the gruesome murder of a pregnant woman within the airport premises.
The Lawmaker’s intervention followed the threat by the host community youths of the airport under the auspices of Onyeaghalanwanneya Youths Movement(OYM), to ground operations at the airport runway in protest of the alleged non-concern attitude of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN towards the killing of the pregnant woman.
It was gathered that the pregnant woman from Awogwu village of Logara Community in Ngor-Okpala LGA, Mrs Chinwendu Amadi, was reportedly raped and killed inside the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport (SMICA), Owerri by unidentified hoodlums.
The incident, which threw the entire clan into mourning, was blamed on the alleged neglect of the security of the airport premises by the FAAN management, whose MD, the community said, refused to employ night guards shortlisted for him by the host community.
The development prompted threats of protest and disruption of flight operations by the community youths.
However, worried by the tension created by the development, Egu summoned the meeting of the stakeholders of the airport host community at the country home of the Government Liaison Officer (GLO) and president, Onyeaghanwanneya Youth Movement (OYM), Comrade Chukwuma Anuforo, at Umuezue Umuopara Obiangwu, where he told them that the matter was already before the State House of assembly and the State Government for urgent action.
He urged the community members, particularly youths of the town to shelve the planned protest as according to him, plans were on top gear for an amicable resolution of the matter.
The lawmaker urged them to document their grievances in the form of a petition and submit them to appropriate authorities as he would follow up the letters to ensure a quick response.
Responding to the lawmaker’s appeal, the stakeholders during their security meeting listed their grievances in a letter addressed to the managing director, FAAN, through the airport manager, and demanded among other things, immediate construction of a perimeter fence around the airport environment for the protection of the airport personnel and facilities to stop intruders from having unauthorized access to the airport premises.
They also demanded an immediate regularization and conversion of thirty local vigilantes engaged during the insecurity period as night guards by FAAN management to protect the airport runway including NAMA and NIMET facilities.
The community also urged FAAN to work on their security apparatus by putting proactive measures that will end an alleged carting away of the underground armoured cables for the airfield night landing lights installed by Governor Hope Uzodinma.
Other demands include a call for the establishment of a joint surveillance and patrol team with a security post at the airport runway which is to regulate and monitor the movement of persons within the airport runway as a proactive measure to forestall further ugly occurrences at the runway.
They also demanded that the airport management officially write to the Imo State Commissioner of Police for approval to make the police post at AFOR UMUOHIAGU functional and establish two more police posts at EKE OBIANGWU and NKWO LOGARA both are SMICA host communities.
“SMICA is situated in the middle of five sister communities and requires the construction of a ring road that will connect each other which will grant them access to each other Including movement of their agricultural produce, market, church, school, including their traditional and cultural activities”. They stated.
The stakeholders also urged FAAN to immediately implement the recruitment approval given for both junior and senior cadres granted to Governor Uzodinma by the immediate past minister for aviation and aerospace development, Sen Hadi Abubakar Sirika for host communities and Imo people.
“We urge FAAN management to disregard any letter of request from any attention-seeking persons for employment hence we are very confident in the leadership of Chukwuma Anuforo, the OYM president and GLO as the recognized channel for negotiations.
They used the opportunity to call on the National Airspace Management Authority (NAMA) to eschew tribalism while engaging staff in the airport, warning that the youths of the host community would soon face them for neglecting their key duties in the airport because their equipment was already overgrown with weeds.
Meanwhile, the stakeholders have cautioned the FAAN management to avoid making provocative utterances over the death of their wife inside the airport.
The community stakeholders however used the medium to ask everyone to be calm for the sake of the airport manager, who they said has given them reasons to cooperate with her.
“It is based on the forgoing that we have resolved to shelve the planned protest while hoping that FAAN should do the needful”, the statement read.
Lawmaker begs Imo youths to shelve protest over killing of pregnant woman at Imo airport