Weeks after some Fulani herdsmen attacked Nimbo in Uzo-Uwani in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu many people and groups are still trooping there to see things for themselves and show solidarity and support to the community with relief materials.
One of such group was the Nsukka Professional Group, NSG, an umbrella body of Nsukka people gainfully employed and engaged in various professions in Lagos, who on Saturday visited the town to present relief materials to the people.
The attack had generated a lot of attention and attracted worldwide condemnation in the loss of many lives, destruction of millions of Naira worth of properties and displacement of hundreds of people forced to flee their homes to take refuge in neighboring communities and towns.
The group members who all wore black attires to reflect the mood of the occasion and was lead by their President Mr. Charles Nwodo Jr on getting there immediately took an on the spot assessment tour of the affected areas. They came face to face with destruction and carnage. What they saw and the awful stories told by survivors brought tears to the eyes of many. The devastation echoed so loud in the unnerving silent language of horror the rubbles of the buildings that were totally burnt or pulled down spoke, that one was so left to conclude the perpetrators of this most heinous act had indeed come from hell, and directly from the devil himself.
The violation and ruins of Christ Holy Church of Nigeria, located at Onueke Nimbo, the epicenter of the invasion and which has come to become the heartrending poster image of the attack on this once sleepy community that might have forever lost its serenity and innocence, evoked the worst possible nightmare at dawn any one could encounter and as was experienced by these people.
It was so sobering that by the time the group made a stopover to see the Igwe, His Royal Highness John Akor at his Palace, the atmosphere was understandably thick with emotions that ranged from open consternation to subdued anger such that the Chairman could only speak in barely audible tone. He told the Igwe, who had received them with some of his cabinet members and some other elders of the community they had to come to identify with them and show how they were also deeply touched by the tragedy.
He said “we have come to convey our grief, sadness, sympathy, and solidarity of our people in Lagos, but we have also come with message of support and goodwill from different parts of the world. Your misfortune and grief is on the global stage, and the losses are not just your losses alone, the global outrage confirms that the lives lost are indeed a loss for the global community”.
The Igwe thanked them for showing true brotherly love and support for his people at a moment they needed such a lot. He said “thank you for coming, for what you have brought to our people, your brothers. These show we are not alone. I hope this will continue forever”, he concluded.
They later visited Saint Mary’s Catholic Church Nimbo where they handed over the relief materials they had brought, a truck load of food items. The church itself has come to become one miracle in the many amazing tales of grace recorded in the attack about how some were astonishingly snatched from the jaws of death. The chilling story of how it was besieged for hours by the attackers who were after the many faithful that had run in there for refuge was recounted by horrified witnesses who had thought the end had come.
But as their faith hung in the balance, God showed He had not yet deserted His people. All the many attempts the assailants made to break into the building or set it ablaze, woefully came to naught. The doors and windows withstood all their battering to hold them out. They could not also successfully make fire as the two generators there and a motorcycle a fleeing parishioner just rode in to also take refuge, in yet another astonishing coincidence, all yielded little or no fuel to start any significant fire to raze the building and its occupants.
The little spark this tale generated was further kindled into warm camaraderie that at least for the moment receded the darkness and trauma of their sad experience when a prominent member of the group and the President of South-East/ South-South Professionals, a popular civil society group, Emeka Ugwuoju, announced that day was his birthday and that he had chosen to mark it with them to show his love and solidarity at a time that easily stood out as the darkest in their history.
Men, women and children later surrounded him to cut his birthday cake that was also mindfully modest but beautiful. Then it was a near tearful moment for the celebrant as they sang a moving birthday song for him. Their slightly halting but determined voices betrayed it was possibly the first time since the beginning of their ordeal they sang for a cheerful purpose. It had an edge of resilience that was as haunting as it was hope replenishing.
They later returned to Nsukka where they had separate audiences with the Bishops of the Catholic and Anglican Dioceses of Nsukka, His Lordship, Godfrey Igwebuike Onah and Rt. Rev. Aloysius Eze Agbo respectively. The two Christian denominations had responded to the situation by tending to the refugees that had streamed into Nsukka at the wake of the attack. The group appreciated their efforts just as the clerics on behalf of their congregations thanked them for being their brothers’ keepers.
