A 75-year-old widow, Mrs Dorothy Onwudirimba, has accused her stepson, Okonkwo, of forcefully ejecting her from their property at Umuntumogu in the Okwuohia Obowo Local Government Area of Abia State.
The grandmother alleged that Okonkwo obtained a court order without her knowledge to carry out the destruction on the property on December 6.
The widow, alongside her children and grandchildren, were left homeless after Okonkwo and some other persons removed the roof of the house and threw the family’s property outside.
Narrating her ordeal to PUNCH, the mother of five said she bought the land where the house was built after her husband died.
She said, “Last Tuesday, I was at home when the carpenters and police officers armed with guns drove into our compound and started removing the roof of my house. I was amazed and started asking them why they were removing my roof, but they didn’t answer me.
“When the police left our compound, one of my stepson’s children, Chinonso, entered the house and started throwing my property away. My children and I lost a lot of our personal belongings, including money.
“After that, we were locked outside the house by my stepson and we are now stranded in our community; my daughter-in-law who gave birth a few days ago is somewhere with her baby while I’m now in someone’s house.”
The grandmother said she informed the traditional ruler of the community about the incident, urging the government to come to her aid.
A witness, Wonder Amarachi, said that his family asked Onwudirimba to stay on the land temporarily.
Amarachi said it was during this period that both families reached an agreement to sell the land.
“My uncle, who was the head of my family at the time, charged them the sum of N150,000; the price was brought down to N110,000,” he added.
A community leader, Justin Obasi, lamented the maltreatment of the widow, adding that the matter would soon be resolved.
“This issue came up when I was the chairman of this community and it was handled without perverting justice. If traditionally, Okonkwo is the occupant of this place, he should allow his stepmother and her children and grandchildren to stay until they get a shelter, rather than forcing them to leave. How can you eject a widow from her husband’s house?” he added.