…to avoid more bloodshed, Soludo should dethrone our Igwe, conduct fresh town union election – stakeholders
…we only have thorns in our flesh here not stakeholders, monarch
By Chuks Eke
Bloodbath is now looming at Awba-Ofemili community in Akka-.North Local Government Area of Anambrarians state, following a protracted dispute between the traditional ruler of the area, Igwe Ezekwesili Ernest Maduagwuna and some of his subjects who are stakeholders in the area.
The crisis had erupted few years ago between the two parties few years ago but snowballed into a climax situation some time in June, this year following what they stakeholders described as an inconclusive town union election which they alleged the monarch manipulated in favour of his own candidate, Chinedù Fidelis Mebene who eventually emerged as the President-General, PG of Awba-Ofemili Development Union, ADU.
At the centre of the crises are Igwe Maduagwuna, the state Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Town Union Affairs, Hon. Tony-Collins Nwabunwanne, the Chairman of Awka-North Local Government Transaction Committee, Hon. Thank God Anagor and the local vigilante operatives in the area on one side and the retinue of the stakeholders on the opposite direction.
At this stage, the stakeholders are beckoning on Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s timely intervention to restore normalcy and avert more possible bloodshed in the area.
Specifically, the stakeholders are calling on Governor Soludo to dethrone Igwe Maduagwuna for allegedly causing the mayhem in the community and above all to conduct a fresh town union election that would usher in a generally accepted President General, PG of ADU as according to them, the manner with which the incumbent PG,Chinedum Fidelis Mebene was produced was strictly undemocratic.
Speaking to newsmen in Awka, Anambra state capital, shortly after their emergency crucial meeting, spokespersons of the Awba-Ofemili stakeholders, Prince Ikechukwu KemKemKem and Cornelius Chijioke Nwakonobi alleged that since the incumbent PG, Mebene was imposed on the community by Igwe Maduagwuna, peace has eluded the hitherto peaceful community.
KemKemKem and Nwakonobi further alleged that even when the June 22, 2024 town union election was inconclusive, Igwe Maduagwuna imposed his stooge in conspiracy with the Commissioner for Local Government, Town Union and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon. Tony-Collins Nwabunwanne and the Transition Committee Chairman of Awka-North Local Government Area, Hon. Thank God Anagor with the assistance of the community’s vigilante officer whom they simply identified as Polycarp.
Insisting that the imposition was responsible for the ongoing killings, raping, land grabbing, setting houses ablaze, among other violent actions, they therefore urged Soludo to come to their aid by dethroning the Igwe, ordering for an election that will usher in democratically elected town union executive and the removal of the local vigilante officer whom they also identified as Igwe’s stooge.
According to KemKemKem, “I played major role on the enthronement of Igwe Maduagwuna, but when I discovered that he is a dictator and advised him to stop dictatorship, he refused and I distanced myself from him and the next thing he did was to set ablaze my rice farm and equipment”.
“I took N21 million loan from Federal Mortgage bank to procure to procure those farm implements and cultivated a large expanse of rice farm but when the hoodlums set it ablaze at the instigation of the Igwe, I went into a state of coma for weeks in hospital and because of this, my father died on the process, believing I will die but God revived me. My relation hid the news of my father’s death from me while I was still in coma so that I will not equally die”.
“We want our amiable Governor Soludo to dethrone him, conduct an election for PG because the monarch imposed his candidate on us in collaboration with the local Chief security officer in the area. These are the people that now set perceived enemies’ houses ablaze, take away their goats, sell their lands, rape women, among others,” he stated.
According Nwakonobi, “Because I condemn the atrocities being perpetrated by the monarch and his cohorts, the monarch listed my name among those he tagged as cultists and submitted to the police. We are not deterred by his antics as we are determined to rescue our people from bondage,” he vowed.
“Scores have been killed, women are being raped, houses are being set ablaze, peoples’ lands sold, animals like goat and sheep forcefully taken away from their owners and this is what we are against. Very soon, we are going to stage a peaceful protest against these atrocities being committed in our community, to buttress our facts”.
“The person we want as our candidate for the post of PG was denied being there and the monarch imposed his candidate on the community. Government should conduct a fresh election for PG seat without delay,” he pleaded
However, in a swift reaction, Igwe Maduagwuna told newsmen on phone that all the allegations leveled against him and others were baseless and concocted lies, stating that the community is peaceful even as he referred the stakeholders as actually the ones who engage in the sell of peoples’ lands, rape women, among others.
His words, “They are the ones who sell the lands, rape women and other atrocities and some of them have even been asked to refund the money they got from those illegal land deals that runs into millions of naira when the case was brought and decided in my palace. My former palace secretary has joined them. Their annoyance is also that their candidate for the PG election failed and since then they started causing crisis in the community”.
“If you don’t like those elected you go to court and not to go to hotel and call meeting saying you have removed me as monarch or that you want me to be removed as monarch. In the first place, they don’t even have the right to call meetings. it is only the PG that can call for meeting. Ikechukwu Kem-Kem-Kem is not a prince because his father was never a king”.
“If you want to remove a monarch you don’t stay in a hotel and remove him. There is a constitutional process of removing/dethroning a monarch and they don’t have power to remove me, they are not stakeholders like they claim because they have not done anything to the community. Some of them are not even attending town union meetings, let alone paying their community levies”.
“I have their voices on record where Cornelius Chijioke and others are calling me names, that I am a criminal selling people’s land, setting buildings ablaze, killing people, among others. They commit cyber crime I am not their mate, I was once council chairman and deputy chairman”, said the monarch.
Meantime, another stakeholder, Nwobido Udegbunam through his legal counsel, Ejiofor Umegbogu has filed a pre-action notice in court informing the state government of his intention to commence legal action against Hon. Nwabunwanne, the State Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Town Union Affairs.
In the pre-action notice dated August 8, 2024 and brought under Section 11 (2) (b) Proceedings Law of Anambrarians state, Udegbunam xho hails from Enugu-Agu village, Awba-Ofemili and a candidate in the proposed 2024 Town Union Election of Awba-Ofemili for the community, lamented that the election which was scheduled to hold on 22nd June 2024, was truncated by the Transition Committee Chairman of Awka North Local Government Area, Mr ThankGod Anagor and the Traditional Ruler of Awba-Ofemili, HRH Ezekwesili Ernest Maduagwuna.
The plaintiff warned in the notice that he would commence legal actions against Nwabunwanne if after three months of receiving this pre,-action notice he failed to conduct a transparent town union election using the town union constitution.
The plaintiff said he would commence the legal proceedings by going to court to restrain the state government from recognizing Chinedù Fidelis Mebene and others who claimed to have been elected as the president-general and other executive members of ADU on June 22, 2024 because the said election was inconclusive in nature.
Efforts to hear from Hon.Nwabunwanne proved abortive as both calls put across to him and WhatsApp chats were not responded to within a reasonable period of time before going to the press.
