Owerri Indigenous People, have written to the International Criminal Court, ICC, lamenting over what it described as ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the good people of Owerri .
Philip Njemanze, a medical doctor, who is the leader of the group, revealed how all “Holy Sites” that mark the customary identity of the indigenous people of Owerri were destroyed.
The 13 page letter was forwarded to the Prosecutor at ICC, alongside evidence and exhibits over the demolition of the ancestral Eke Ukwu Owerri market, the Mbari Centre, the land called 3R Residential Layout at Onitsha Road, etc.
The group noted that “the demolition, included total extermination of cultural symbols, dispossession of lands, forced assimilation, and forced resettlement from several ancestral homes.
“The destruction targetted cultural relics that the Governor of Imo State deemed to convey messages that went against his values, often in defiance of international community values.
“The lands destroyed are the holy sites of the city Ancient Jerusalem, which are World Cultural heritage sites for all peoples of Abrahomic Religions” part of the letter read.
ZOOM AND READ FULL LETTER BELOW: