Nigerian Deputy Governor's Village Denies Claims of Sharing Water with Cows

The Ezimo community in the Udenu Local Government Area of Nigeria's Enugu State has vehemently rejected a news report published by the well-known news platform Sahara Reporters. The report in question claimed that local people in the Urukpa settlement of the region shared the same water source with grazing cows. The Ezimo community stated that they suspect there may be political motives behind the news, especially since it is also the hometown of Enugu State Deputy Governor Barr Ifeanyi Ossai. Community spokespersons stated that the news was published without a balanced investigation and fell below journalistic standards. Local administrators argued that such baseless claims aimed to damage the image of both Urukpa and the Ezimo community in general.

Charles Ndu, the Chairman of the Ezimo Unity Forum and also a pharmacist, emphasized that it is absolutely untrue that people in the Urukpa settlement share water with cows. Ndu stated that functional water wells existed in the region long before Deputy Governor Ossai assumed office. He added that the Deputy Governor also had a mechanized water well and an additional separate well for the region's Smart Green School drilled. He noted that the photo of dirty water used in the news was an isolated incident and that temporary pollution could only occur after heavy rainfall. Ndu called on journalists to act in accordance with the rules, arguing that these spring waters emerging from between the rocks, which are rich in fulvic, are an optional choice and are not used by cows.

Onyekachi Ugwu, a former council member of the community and the previous chairman of the Ezimo Unity Forum, urged newspapers to conduct independent research before publishing in order not to mislead the public. Ugwu claimed that the news was an absolute lie, stating that there were a total of seven water wells in the Deputy Governor's hometown, five of which were fully operational. He emphasized that the Ezimo region did not need to rely on streams or rainwater to meet its drinking water needs. He stated that there were more than twenty streams and five waterfalls spread across the two autonomous communities of the region, but that the people relied on water wells rather than these. Ugwu claimed that regarding water wells, Ezimo had more state support than 80 percent of the communities in the Enugu North Senatorial District.

Sharing more details about the region's infrastructure, Ugwu listed the number of functional water wells in Ezimo and their years of construction one by one. He noted that facilities such as the Ozara ADB Well built in 2005, the Amaogbele CSDA project built in 2022, and the Urukpa IFAD Well completed in 2023 served the region. He also added that the Amallogbo/Amogu Udenu Local Government well, completed in 2026, was actively used. However, he acknowledged that some facilities, such as the Community Secondary School well built in 1983 and Sen Utazi's project well, were currently not working due to technical reasons. Despite this, he gave the glad tidings that Monday Diamond and CSDA had completed preparations to bring another new water well to the region, thus increasing the total number of wells to eight.

Local administrators suggested that such baseless news was a political manipulation aimed at overshadowing the development efforts and achievements of the Ezimo community. They stated that a water well allocated to a health facility in Ibagwa-Ezimo could not be completed yet solely due to some technical glitches, but that even this did not prevent the region's water infrastructure from being strong. Community spokespersons argued that misleading and exaggerated politics must come to an end, inviting all skeptical individuals to the region. Administrators, who invited people to inspect Ezimo's water facilities and natural resources on-site, emphasized that the truth would emerge in the field. This incident stands out as a typical example showing how local politics and media manipulating news shape public opinion in Nigeria.