By Emeka Ibemere
Tension
in Ogwashi-Uku, Idemili Local Government Area, of Delta State, is all time
high. There is anger in the land, too; and emotion has taking flight to height
above sea level. Over what you may ask?
Inne
festival, which comes up today, Monday 14 October, 2013, at the palace of
Agidiehe quarters. This festival has generated a lot of bad blood since this
year’s own was fixed. Over five people have been allegedly killed in crises over
the Obiship in Ogwashi-Uku kingdom between the families Obi Felix Ogochukwuka
11 of Deiyi royal family of Agidiehe quarters and Umu obi Obahai royal family.
Despite
the Appeal Court ruling in Benin City on the legal tussle over the Obiship of
Ogwashi Uku kingdom headquarters of Aniocha, South Local Government Area of
Delta State, peace has eluded the community. The court had declared the Umu obi
Obahai royal family as the only family qualified to produce obi of Ogwashi Uku.
The court ruling said Professor Chukwuka Okonjo is the authentic Obi of Ogwashi
Uku after the High Court in Delta State removed from the throne, Obi Felix
Ogochukwuka 11 of Deiyi royal family in 2007. The Nigerian Army, mobile
policemen and other security agencies have been deployed in the area following
the Inne festival which holds on Monday; today apparently to prevent Deiyi
royal family of Agidiahe, who claiming the heir apparent to the Obiship from
celebrating the Inne.
Ogwashi-Uku
people said they don’t want a ruler who doesn’t know their customs and
tradition to be their monarch and refused Professor Chukwuka Okonjo, the father
of the coordinating Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Ngozi Okonjo
Iweala from Umu obi Obahai royal family, from celebrating the new yam festival,
last week.
The Agidiahe quarters who spoke through their
leader, HH Nwajei Chuks Nwajei, Agumba and Akaji obi of Ogwashi-Uku on weekend
raised an alarm over threats from the Umu obi Obahai royal family, whom he has
accused to have plotted to kill him should he enter Ogwashi-Uku to celebrate
the new yam festival on Monday in disregard to the order of the sectional Obi
represented by Professor Chukwuka Okonjo.
“Infact
on Wednesday October 9, professor Okonjo ordered truck loads of soldiers again
to Ogwashi-Uku because he alleged that he wanted to do his new yam festival in
deviance of the traditional customs of the people of Ogwashi Uku. Therefore,
when the soldiers invaded the town, my people said ‘over five truck loads of
soldiers, Airforce, mobile policemen, customs officials, and police beat up a
lot of people, detained a lot of people and the boys decided to come out and
they were almost marching down to the palace, when he saw that even the
citizenry came out to protest the invasion of the community, he stopped.",
Nwajei said. “Despite all the guns and uniform, he got to the roundabout and
turned back”.
Nwajei
said its custom that the new yam must be celebrated on that date and that
nothing, including the threats to his life could stop it, no matter many forces
sent to Ogwashi-Uku.
“My
festival is coming up on Monday (Today), as scheduled and because it’s coming
up on Monday, they have told people that immediately I come to Ogwashi-Uku that
they were going to assassinate me”, he added.
“I’m not afraid of death because, I know that
my cause is clear and unbiased. I know that my struggle and cause are supported
by 99 percent of Ogwashi-Uku people. I’m never afraid”. The High Chief
disclosed that the threats were sent to his younger brothers in his village
warning him about coming home on Monday for the festival. Asked whether he has
alerted police high commands, he said.
“They are coming directly from the people they
have told how they will eliminate me. They cannot call me on phone because they
know that I can record their voices. They have met my mother, they have met my
sisters, they have met our community youth leader. There is one Aloma, who said
that Okonjo said that now that Agumba doesn’t want him to rest; he will put him
on the ground and will not allow him to rest”. On alerting the police high
authorities, Nwajei stated that the police in Delta State have been compromised
and that he was not safe going to them anymore.
“I
have not. When you are talking about the police in Delta, who are the people
giving him truck loads of mobile policemen? I know for sure that the
commissioner of police, Aduba is a professional. I also know that his team are
professionals but I do not know why Aduba should be used politically by one
man”, he added. “Last year, Aduba himself told me that he has an ‘order from
the above’, to bring me down to Abuja but because he has investigated and know
the truth, he even told me that in Onitsha, they have two people claiming the
Igweship of Onitsha, that he wasn’t ready to take me to Abuja”.
Nwajei
told journalists on Wednesday that he is asking the government to quickly
withdraw the forces deployed to Ogwashi-Uku and called police to order. He said
he doesn’t know why an Obi should invite hundreds of soldiers and police with tax
payer’s money at these austere times, when the nation is talking of being
broke.
“My
prayers are that the Presidency, should call Okonjo Iweala to order because,
professor Okonjo is not a rich man and where he is getting his money to hire
truck loads of security personnel is from his daughter and the daughter is
public servant”.
“They
are subjugating the people of Ogwashi-Uku to second slavery. How can the king
be celebrating his new yam festival and he is deploying the army and others to
go and fight and kill his people, something is wrong. He has no powers to call
them; the person behind all these things is Ngozi Okonjo Iweala. My prayer is
let Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, who cannot give his people water, good roads,
electricity or free education come down to Ogwashi-Uku, and become the Queen or
the King”.
According
to Nwajei, the Minister cannot make his father a proxy and he would be killing
his people. “Let Okonjo Iweala withdraw the soldiers her father is using to
intimidate, harass and suppress our people. Let Okonjo-Iweala stop giving our
people rice. She gives the community rice, beans and garri in the guise of
doing them good but killing them with the soldiers he deployed to Ogwashi-Uku”.
He emphasis the fact that there are powers behind Okonjo, but that the power of
the people is more powerful. According to him, he has the mandate of the gods
in Ogwashi-Uku to carry out his spiritual responsibility to the people of
Ogwashi-Uku and that was why the festival must hold. “No way! I cannot cancel
it or shift it; it’s the custom of the land which must be held. The custom
says, it must be on every October 14, its yearly ritual that must be observed.
I’m having this chat with you so that if i die on Monday as they have planned,
Nigerians will know who killed me, Professor Ngozi Okonjo Iweala and her
father, professor Okonjo and that is why am taking it seriously”, he
emphasised.
“More
than five people have been killed in the last two weeks concerning this new yam
festival. On Wednesday, they told me that the Army slapped somebody and his
eyes gone out of its socket that is to tell you that this man is not a leader”.
So, I’m calling on David Mark, the Senate President who has the right to call
for the withdrawal of the soldiers, to go back to their barracks, am calling on
the President to call his Finance Minister to order because, I know that
Professor Okonjo, has no right, no money to hire such heavy forces against our
people, calling on the IG, to call his men to order, am calling on the Chief of
army Staff, to withdraw these soldiers from the sleepy town of Ogwashi Uku. We
are not Boko Haram and Ogwashi Uku community is not an enclave of Boko Haram”.
Nwajei,
who is also one of the king-makers in Ogwashi-Uku said, the President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, shouldn’t allow one man to be going with hundreds
of security personnel while other areas are under-policed wondering where he
gets money to finance the type of security attached to him.
“Our
issue is with the President, Goodluck Jonathan, does the president allow one
man when salaries have not been paid, when we are hearing that the nation is
broke, and that the federal government is in deficit, states were not given
their allocations but as some money to give to one man because the daughter is
a finance Minister of this country to deploy military, the mobile police men,
the customs with the resources of this country”.
“The Ogwashi Uku community is now thinking
that what the Okonjo is doing in Ogwashi-Uku has the support of the presidency,
he said. “I’m now appealing to the Chief of defence staff, the Senate
President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Inspector General
of the police, and the Chief of army staff to call their men to order. No one
man can be using the resources of this country to suppress his people”.
Agumba
Ogwashi-Uku said the people of Ogwashi Uku, are peace loving people.
“What
we are saying is that; we do not want Professor Okonjo as our obi. Our appeal
is that it has come to a stage, where the government has to come to our aid. If
not for the way I have been telling my people; ‘let us be cowards for now’,
remain peaceful things would have gone worse. We have been appealing to this
government to see what they can do for us. I think they are our leaders, to
stop Okonjo, to stop dehumanizing our people. It’s just like Odi now, where you
can come and kill people, and go scot free, but it will reach a stage that the
community and all the Ogwashi-Uku will rise and fight for their rights”.
“Following
my interview with your Daily Newswatch, I have been receiving threats to my
life that the soldiers are waiting to deal with me. I’m taking it seriously
because; this is not the first time. Last year, they mobilize over 12 lorry
loads of police, army, anti- terrorism and anti-kidnapping squads from Warri
and alleged that I kidnapped the governor’s brother. They came to my ogwa
(private Obi) and destroyed everything but the instruction was to kill me. They
were in Ogwashi-Uku to kill me. When they got there, they met my mother, my
wife and arrested some of my brothers”, he explained. “They took some of my
licensed guns. I took them to court and they brought the guns back by
themselves and apologised. If I were around, they would have killed me and how
much did they give to these uniformed men, N600, 000”.
“Now,
they are threatening me again. One of their men called Aloma, met one of my
brothers and told him that they are waiting for me at Ogwashi-Uku. Aloma, whom
professor Okonjo wanted to make the chairman of the village vigilante, was the
one who told my brothers that they have perfected plans to eliminate me and
that the moment I get to Ogwashi-Uku; they are going to deal with me because am
giving them a lot of hit. I am not afraid of my life, but I need to tell
Nigerians that this is happening to me”, according to him, “If am lying, let
them take me to court and sue me for libel. You cannot be leading your people
and be killing them. There is no way an Obi should be holding his ceremony,
with detachment of soldiers, the police, the mobile police, the army, the
customs and other security agencies, that shows that he has no support of
people of Ogwashi-Uku. You cannot be intimidating your people and at the same
time being their ruler”. The worried Nwajei said the truck loads of security
operatives were drafted to Ogwashi-Uku because of his festival. According to
him, Okonjo wants to disrupt his Inne festival on Monday.
“That
is it. He claimed that he was doing his festival and if you are doing your
festival, must it be with truck loads of police and army? Ogwashi people said
they are not going to do the festival with him because he is not their
authentic Obi and that he is not acceptable to them. He is afraid of me because
I’m telling him the truth that that Obiship throne is on quicksand and he is
going to quit that throne sooner, because he has desecrated the throne with
bloody hands by employing the services of the soldiers that killed Ogwashi-Uku
people”, he stated. “He stained his hands with the blood of Ogwashi-Uku people
and that is what he is afraid of. He is just like a Ceaser who made his horse a
senator, Okonjo wants to make Ogwashi-Uku people his stepping stone but we are
saying we do not want him to intimidate us any other more. He has done enough
and we think that enough is enough. It has reached a point when a goat will
begin to bite”.
Nwajei
said peace would only return to Ogwashi Uku when Okonjo ceases to an Obi.
“Peace will only return when Okonjo Iweala leaves the people of Ogwashi-Uku
alone; when he step down as Obi. We are not fighting him. How can we fight him?
What we are saying is that he should leave us alone. If he is doing his
festival with soldiers allow us to do our own with our people; that are our
appeal. Let him not debar us from doing our own ceremony. We are calling on our
youths not to fight, am calling on them to remain calm and peaceful as they
have been in the past. The venue of the ceremony is at the palace. I will leave
my ogwa (my personal palace), and move to the palace of the authentic Obi of Ogwashi-Uku,
and that is the norm. This was what he tried to do on Wednesday, but our people
refused to follow him, because he is not there Obi. He has no palace and claims
to be an Obi. He leaves his house and was going to the palace, which showed
that he wasn’t in charge. They stopped him but I will walk to the palace on
Monday and nobody will stop me. Let Okonjo and his soldiers stop me”.
He
urged Okonjo to allow them to celebrate the annual Inne festival.
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