Crimes in Obosi: Culprits Behind the Masks
The mere mention of the name of each town in Nigeria elicits comments from us and evokes both good and bad memories, too. And the town, Obosi, is imprinted on the minds of millions of Nigerians. Obosi, which is in Idemili North LGA of Anambra State, is a well-known town in Nigeria. Obosi, which is bordered by these towns, viz Nkpor, Oba, and Onitsha, is the country home of prominent Nigerians, who played critical roles in the development of Nigeria.
Obosi is the home town of Igwe Isaac Iweka, the first Igbo engineer; Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former commonwealth secretary general; the late Chief Chimezie Ikeazor, a legal luminary and founder of legal aid council; Chief Osita Chidoka, former Nigeria’s minister of aviation; the late Ogidi Ibeabuchi, former Enugu Rangers international football club ace; Chief Mike Ajegbo, former senator of the federal republic of Nigeria; Dame Dorathy Ejindu; and many others.
More so, Obosi is known for its rich cultural heritages and festivals, the most celebrated and popular festival being the Ito-Ogbo festival. It is a periodic and collective birthday celebration of octogenarians. The Ito-Ogbo festival underlines the Obosi people’s reverence for old age. And the celebration of the festival offers the people of Obosi the opportunity to pray to God for longevity. Other cultural festivals like the performance of masquerades and iwaji festival are observed and celebrated in Obosi, too.
And Obosi is a fast developing town with industries springing up in every nook and cranny of the town. The proliferation of industries in the town has led to the reduction of the rate of unemployment in the area. Those industries do hire workers for the production of goods and provision of services to people.
The massive road construction projects executed by past successive state governments in towns in Anambra State, Obosi inclusive, helped to open up Obosi for development and rapid industrialization.
However, no town is without its downsides and developmental challenges. Obosi has its own peculiar niggling problems. It has been battling incidences of crime for a relatively long while now.
But, it has successfully tackled its problem of crimes. Armed robbery incidents have abated in the town while cult-violence has stopped following rapprochement brokered for the cultists by prominent indigenes of the town. Thankfully, today, the atmosphere of peace is reigning in the town. But sadly, now, some miscreants and hoodlums, who are not natives of Obosi, have not given up their perpetration of criminal activities. Those ne’er-do-wells do engage in such sundry criminal acts as pickpocketing, snatching of phones and handbags, internet financial crimes, burglary, and others.
Sadly and incredibly, when they are caught in the acts of committing crimes, they will assume false identities and claim that they hail from Obosi. But upon diligent scrutiny and investigation of their claims, their true identities will be uncovered. A majority of the perpetrators of those heinous criminal deeds are non-natives of Obosi town. Why they hide their true identities and claim to be natives of Obosi baffles us.
Those criminals and undesirable elements (non-indigenes of Obosi) who live within the Obosi metropolis are besmirching the reputation of Obosi town by their false claims. Their fibbing regarding their towns of origins portray Obosi people as bad people, who are adepts at committing crimes like armed robbery, internet fraud, rape, burglary, and others.
Consequently, uninformed people are being misled into believing that Obosi natives are the perpetrators of criminal deeds in Obosi town. This is the reason why some Industrialists are giving Obosi town a wide berth regarding siting of industries and factories.
Now, it has been established that other people’s portrayals of the personalities’ traits of Obosi people are not the true reflections of their character traits. The indisputable fact is this, Obosi people are proud and honourable. And they do not demean themselves and soil their images by engaging in anti-social behaviours.
Chiedu Uche Okoye,
Uruowulu-Obosi,
Anambra State
