Crying Out for Blood and Bread: Aninri Community Drags Hon. Anayo Onwuegbu to the Federal Ministry of Water Resources Over the Abandoned Ivo River Dam Disaster

There is a profound, agonizing pain that comes from watching your ancestral land turn into a watery grave while the man you trusted to speak for you in Abuja looks away. For the people of Aninri Local Government Area in Enugu State, patience has finally run out.

​The tragic reality of the abandoned Ivo River Dam project—first awarded in 2012 and later re-awarded in 2014 to Anbeez Services Nigeria Limited, a firm founded by the lawmaker representing Aninri/Awgu/Oji River Federal Constituency, Hon. Engr. Anayo Onwuegbu—has become a horrifying monument to failure. While millions upon millions of naira vanished into the bowels of a stalled contract, ordinary farmers, aged mothers, and helpless children have had to bear the brutal consequences.

​Just recently, the cost of this criminal abandonment was paid in innocent blood when devastating floods submerged 14 villages, sacked communities, and swept away precious young lives—including two children from the same family. Granaries are empty, livelihoods have been completely washed away, and a people historically known as the food basket of the region are now living in crushing hunger and displacement.

​Refusing to be silenced any longer, the community has taken decisive legal action, officially invoking the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act to drag Hon. Anayo Onwuegbu and the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to the wall. Armed with righteous indignation, they are demanding comprehensive paperwork:

​The original contract awards, project specifications, and Bills of Quantities (BOQ)  

​Financial disbursement records and auditing trails  

​Full accountability on why a multi-billion-naira multi-purpose dam project was left to rot for over a decade while lives were lost

​It is an agonizing insult to injury that while Aninri bleeds, drowns, and starves, the architects of their misery continue to seek political survival and re-election without remorse. The people's message is loud, raw, and uncompromising: Aninri is not a dumping ground for political deception. The blood of our children cries out for justice, and no amount of political maneuvering can wash away the accountability that is due!