The new council Chairman of Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, Hon Chinedu Asogwa, has been charged to use his good offices to tame the activities of Oriokpa masquerades in the area.
The call was sequel to some untoward excesses of the masquerades, including beating women wearing trousers and molesting innocent citizens who refused to offer them some money.
A community leader in the Eha-Amufu community, Mrs Paulina Eze, said the activities of Oriokpa masquerades were becoming unbearable.
According to her, โWe recently protested demanding the banning of these masquerades. Many lives have been lost because of these masquerades in Nsukka LGA. Sadly, not much has been done to curb their activities.
โEven after we protested, these masquerades still came out to do their worst. The new LGA chairman of Nsukka should see it as urgent to ban these masquerades that are becoming terror to us.โ
A primary school teacher at a school at Isiakpu, Mr Johnson Ezeme, recalled how two persons, including a lady, were killed as a result of the masquerades recently, and wondered why the government of Enugu State had not banned them.
He said, โThe state government last week summoned some stakeholders from the communities where these masquerades are terrorising people.
But after the meeting of the traditional rulers and presidents general of the affected communities with the commissioner of rural development in Enugu, the masquerades were still operating with impunity.
โIt is an issue that we would like the new council chairman to use the instruments of the law to tackle. They are making our serene Nsukka dreaded.โ
Fabian Eze, a lecturer at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, however, said outright banning of the masquerades was not the solution.
In his view, โIt is not all these masquerades that are volatile. Those that are volatile should be punished to serve as a deterrent to others. It is a part of our culture. Some obnoxious cultural practices should be outlawed while good ones should be retained.โ
NewsNGR reports that Gov Peter Mbah swore in the new 17 council chairmen of the local government areas in the state on Monday with a charge on them to ensure peace and rural development in their respective LGAs. The chairmen are all of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.