The aftermath of the black downpour
It is not in doubt that Ihitte Okwe autonomous community in Ngor
Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State, is a completely rural
settlement.
It is also clear that the name of the community does not ring a
bell. To say that the community is largely peaceful and a good chunk of
the population are peasant farmers, is also a truism.
However, a strange happening has brought the community’s name to
the front burner. The rains of September 2018, obviously did the magic.
The scary event has thrown up the glaring neglect and possible
marginalisation of the area by successive governments in the state.
Going to Ihitte Okwe is akin to a trip to Golgotha. No road leading into
or out of the community is paved.
To say that the roads are waterlogged, especially during the rainy
season, amounts to being miserly with the proper adjective to qualify
them.
Responding angrily to the question posed by South-East Voice, on
the plight of the indigenes of Ihitte Okwe, one of the civil servants
that operates from the community, said: “We have been passing
through untold hardship over the years. The sorry thing is that the end
of our suffering appears not to be in sight. The tragedy is that the
government of the day is not looking our way. There is no likelihood
that the administration will be interested in our welfare now that it is
gradually winding down.”
Giving a graphic account of the black rain, the traditional ruler of the community, Eze Barnabas Obirieze, said: “The
villagers woke up, like in all the previous days, prepared to go about
their daily chores. Some were preparing to go to church. Nobody knew
what was in the offing. Not too long after daybreak, the sky darkened.
The dark, thick cloud was palpable. Nothing about the weather was
strange, and that was the general feeling of the people.
“The villagers rightly interpreted the weather to mean that it
was going to rain, and possibly, heavily too! Most people opted to stay
back in their family homes. It turned out to be a somewhat wise
decision.
“Expectedly, the rain started and like musical notes, it rose
speedily to a crescendo. The issue was no longer the torrential
downpour. What immediately attracted the people’s attention was the
colour of the rain. It was completely black!
“The initial thought was that it could have been the dirty
roofing sheets. This turned out to be wrong because, on a second
thought, it was clear that it was not the first rain of the year. First
rain, over the past years, were slightly brownish in colour, and
definitely not black.
“This was a different story all together. as even the flood
water flowing along the unpaved roads in the community, was also dark”, Obirieze recounted with a level of apprehension.
Continuing his narrative, the soft spoken but ever cheerful royal father said that the experience was strange and fearful.
“Honestly, the experience was, and still remains strange and
fearful, even as I speak to you today. I remember that I was in the
church on that fateful day, when the rain started. It was a pretty heavy
rain. We tarried for a long while, waiting for the rain to subside.
“When it subsided and we were set to leave the church, we
noticed that everywhere was black. The flood water was black. All the
receptacles in all family homes, were filled with black water. Clothes,
especially the white ones, whose owners hung outside before the rain,
were automatically decolorised.
“I became naturally alarmed and as the person my people look up
to for virtually everything, I took some photographs and equally
started making contacts with people that can help narrate our experience
to the world.
“I must make it clear that there is no case of oil prospecting
or exploration going on anywhere in my community. The only establishment
that is some kilometres away from my community, is the Imo Airport. Let
me also say that if the black rain was midwifed by the aircraft using
the airport, then, the experience should have been total, but this is
not the case.
“I have made inquiries from all the neighbouring communities
and the result showed that only the eight villages of Ihitte Okwe
community experienced the black rain. I appeal to the state and Federal
Government agencies responsible for such occurrences, to please come and
investigate the matter and allay our fears. For now, we are all living
in fear”, Eze Obirieze pleaded.
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Source: Vanguard