Ogwashi Ukwu: a town in search of development 100 years after

Emeka Ibemere

Ordinarily, two thousand and fourteen (2014) was supposed to be a signpost in the life of Ogwashi Ukwu community, the headquarters of Anioma South, in Delta State, South-South, Nigeria. If not for any other thing; it was the year the community became the official headquarters of the Anioma South.

Professor Nwajei, traditional ruler Agidighe Quarters

But 100 years down the line, the town, despite her prominent citizens, is still groping in darkness of under-development occasioned by lack of electricity, good roads, pipe born water, hospital and other social infrastructure. The community has been abjectly neglected by the past governments in the State that no development has been attracted to the community. The worse bone of contention is the lack of peace and unity ravaging the town with population of about five million people.   

The Agidiahe quarters and Ogwashi Ukwu Development Union (ODU) who spoke through their leader, HH Nwajei Chuks Nwajei, Agumba and Akaji obi of Ogwashi-Uku on weekend told Daily Newswatch that Ogwashi-Uku people shares several things in common with Nigeria- poor leadership, lack of peace, unity and under-development. According to him, Nigeria’s amalgamation was in1914 while Ogwashi Ukwu became headquarters of Anioma South in 1914.

The academic administrator and traditional ruler, Nwajei revealed that the problem of Ogwashi Ukwu is poor leadership of the purported Obi.

According to him, it was on the grounds of the neglects suffered by Ogwashi Ukwu People that has made the town development union to rise against the problems of the town. Nwajei in a press briefing in his office in Lagos State on weekend decried the attitude of people who run away from courageous fight against injustice and called for the renewal of hope.

 “Some don’t want to be harassed even if you are slapping them, they would wipe their face and leave. But for some of us, we have refused to be categorised under as a rotten mango”, he stated.  “We have a lot of people now like Ogwashi Ukwu Development Union. They are now fighting; that the right thing should be done. I just spoke to the chairman of Ogwashi Ukwu Development Union, and he told me that everybody were so pained about what is happening at Ogwashi Ukwu”.

Professor Nwajei bemoaned the fate of his community and called for urgent help from good citizens of the community to be involved in rebuilding Ogwashi Ukwu community to be where it supposed to be.

“I kept on saying; here is a town that was a council headquarters of Aniocha South, Delta State since in 1914, yet we don’t have any accessible road, there is no road except the federal road that divides the town into two”, he said. “We don’t have one tarred road and you are talking about the centre of the town, even with our daughter as a coordinating Minister. She could be pardonable in the sense that she is not a party person who could be pardonable”. He continued, “For a town that have somebody like her there is no road and the only road was constructed about 50 years ago. Only one road that lead to Agbor, there is no other road. We don’t have water, no electricity, there is no infrastructure, people use their vehicle to go and fetch water from afar or from the stream”.

According to the community leader, Ogwashi Ukwu since 1914 when it became a divisional headquarters has never benefitted anything from the federal or state government.

“We don’t have Local Government Council in the real sense of it. They aren’t doing anything. We have been living without water and electricity. We power ourselves. Even the Local Government rely on generator. Average man in Ogwashi Ukwu spends N5, 000, daily on generator. How many people are working in the local government? If you go there it is deserted”.

 Disclosing the abject neglect from the state government, Nwajei said as long as he is concerned the state government has not been kind to them.

“We don’t even know whether we have state government. Two things that are working in Ogwashi Ukwu are the police, and the market women that sales yam and garri. There is no other industry other than the police station. We don’t have any Ogwashi Ukwu man representing us in the Senate or House of Representatives even in the state assembly”. Nwajei said the funniest thing was that a trek able distance of about 5 kilometres, harbouring another town enjoys light every day. The town is near Ogwashi ukwu, all the farmers there have light in their huts inside the forest but in Ogwashi ukwu, there is no light. Even in the Ogwashi Ukwu Polytechnic, there is no light, no water, nothing”.

It was gathered that a bag of sachet water in the area is N500.

“The leaders in Ogwashi Ukwu apart from us, who have been fighting to see that things are done the proper way, don’t care. People from Professor Okonjo Iweala, who claimed to be the Obi don’t care. They only thing they are doing are to cave out land and sell it”, Nwajei disclosed.

“They are selling all our lands. Like I always say, the lands in Ogwashi ukwu have been sold to traders from Onitsha, Obosi, and other parts of Anambra and Imo States. The most beautiful five houses, you see in Ogwashi ukwu are owned by traders in Onitsha, Nnewi, Obosi and other states. Average Ogwashi ukwu man doesn’t want to own a house”.

Speaking further, the traditional ruler of Agidiahe quarters revealed that the problem of the town was that the purported Obi doesn’t want anybody who would oppose him.

Lack peace and unity in the community has chased development of the town away.

The town has been enmeshed in protracted Obiship tussle leading to several court cases. 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, made peace to elude 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 judgement didn’t go down well with the people of Ogwashi-Uku even though the case was said to be resting with Supreme Court. Since this development, the community has been under sever intense crises.

One of the recent crises bedevilling the town is the vigilante issue. According to Nwajei, the tussle now is who controls the vigilante group in Ogwashi Ukwu. He disclosed that Professor Okonjo Iweala is trying force his interest vigilante on the community without fully consulting the elites, chiefs and Ndi Okpa people. According to him, the people must know who are guarding hence it involves about their security. They blamed the Obi of trying to inaugurate strangers as members and leaders of the vigilante without widely consulting the people of the community. He said the vigilante group in the community are not the better people because most of them have questionable characters.

“If you look at the various kidnapping cases that have been taking place in Ogwashi Ukwu, from the time Obi’s wife was kidnapped, a lot of people have been kidnapped, two boys were shot in Ogwashi-ukwu, and four were killed in the same town. Kidnapping is another industry that is in Ogwashi ukwu and they have turned it to avenue of making money”, Nwajei stated. “Ordinarily, the vigilante ought to have been our security but they are not. The Divisional Police head in Ogwashi Ukwu, Mr. Galadinma has been a very wonderful officer and diligent professional. But once he gives directives, the Obi would counter it”, he revealed. “We have been intimidated several times, we have been tagged criminals just to get rid of us but the man has done his work professionally. There are so many petitions against me to the police from Obi whose letter-headed paper is bigger than that of the federal government and since independence has been writing one petition or the other”.

Nwajei explained that the Obi had in the last years be petitioning to SSS, police, military against his subjects labelling them as kidnappers.

 “Some of us have been named habitual criminals. My palace was cannibalised. Do you know that there was a time an order was giving that I should be shot on the grounds that I kidnapped James Ibori’s brother. They raided my house with almost Nigerian armed forces. They broke my windows and doors raided my rooms and as I wanted to sue them, they started begging me”.

Nwajei blamed the problem of the community on lack of unity and said it has denied them so many things. “If we are united, we can fight the common problem. The question we are asking is why is it now that the issue of vigilante is been taking seriously. Why do they want to appoint vigilante to represent us. I have taken them to court and they want to breach the court process”.

He said the Agidiahe quarters are saying that right thing should be done properly in the selection of the vigilante group because according to him, “we know the bad ones, my people know the bad ones and in my situation, bringing in somebody that doesn’t know the terrain of the place is wrong”.

“If a new man comes to Agidiahe quarters, everybody will know that a stranger entered the quarters. We want to know who our vigilante; that is what we are saying. You cannot give us the people we don’t know to guard us. If you bring an outsider, he doesn’t know anybody but Obi has been our problem”. According to Nwajei there are more to it that the ordinary eye could see. He reasoned that the view of the community was that for the Obi to insist to install his men as vigilante, that it could mean there was something larger than that.

“We feel that obi is bringing in these people for his interest. They are planning to use them for the election. Like I said, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala is not a politician; she is not a party man. But the kind of gift we are receiving now, bag of rice, beans and garri, suggest otherwise”, he disclosed.

“It is like bringing water into an ocean. We produce garri, yam and beans. Why giving us these things when our cash crop are garri, beans and yam. Give us good roads, electricity and hospital. Our feelings are that if Okonjo Iweala is contesting election, let her come and tell ‘Ogwashians’. Her father should not give us people we don’t know as vigilante, who will serve his political interest”.

The issue of vigilante has been in court and for now the move to inaugurate the vigilante seems to have been stopped following the court order.

“Two days ago, I was called that they wanted to circumvent the court process by telling them that we have settled and the UDU called me to ask my stake on this, I told them that I support their action and that I have not withdrawn the case because they had deceived them that they were inaugurating the vigilante at the DPO. But when I told the UDO of my support to them, they quickly went to the DPO to say they aren’t part of the inauguration and left”.

It was gathered that one man had been recruited to head the vigilante without the consent of other community leaders and this has been generating bad blood in the area. “There is one man they brought as the chairman of the vigilante, who claimed to be a security consultant from USA. If you are doing something in USA, why did you come back to the village to be the chairman of vigilante in Ogwashi Ukwu?, Nwajei queried adding that the elites were not in support of the man.

“We are the elites of Ogwashi Ukwu and we are saying that we must know who constitutes the vigilante. If you want to bring the head of vigilante, tell the elites, let the community leaders know, allow the Ndi-Okpa people to know. We don’t care who heads the vigilante, we want our representatives to be part of the vigilante. I have been behind the disbandment of three vigilante group in Ogwashi-Ukwu in the last three years”.

He disclosed that the vigilante group had not been showing credible security checks in the area and frowned why the same people with bad impression should be appointed to be members of the vigilante.

“They kill people’s goat, they steal their money, and they steal their yams and all the little crimes these vigilante commits. There is nothing they don’t do and somebody wants to bring them again to use them fight for his course rather than for the community interests”, he quipped.

“The former vigilante have cell, they have bail bond and they would catch okada, put the inside cell and asked them to bail themselves. Vigilantes are supposed to complement the effort of the police. They have no right of arrest, detain or even carry guns. In the evening, you see them intimidating and harassing and extorting people. But the one baffling everybody is how vigilante could have cell”.

“The police cannot be everywhere. Galadinma is trying but the problem is that the purported Obi is giving counter directives. What we are saying let the Ndi Okpa; the chiefs decide the vigilante issue”.

Speaking further, Nwajei expressed fears of community clash between the Ogwashi Ukwu and the Hausa community living and doing their genuine business in the town. He warned against anything that could trigger crises between the Hausa businessmen.

“The Hausa people will come to my house to complain how the vigilantes carry their yams after paying for their security money. The vigilantes would go to their farms and carry their yams. They have been caught several times. The Hausa people are being intimidated. In the morning they will pay but the vigilante would go and carry their goats and cattle”.

“And we are telling them, we don’t want all these things, we don’t want problem with the Hausa community in Ogwashi ukwu”.

He stated that such day light robbery cannot take place in Agidiehe quarters. “These things cannot happen. If it were our boys, they cannot behave that way because they are responsible to us and we are responsible to them. But when you now bring in somebody we don’t know, whatever he does, we aren’t responsible and he won’t be responsible to his action”, he said.

“We said no vigilante for now. We have gone to the police station, telling them we don’t want vigilante for now. They are pressuring the Ogwashi Ukwu DPO, to inaugurate their vigilante. We are appealing to every Nigeria to help us talk to them, we don’t want vigilante because it borders on the security of the people. I don’t need vigilante to live”. Immediately I stepped into Ogwashi ukwu, you see them coming and be shooting why must you shoot for me? I have told them, I don’t need anybody to protect me; I can protect myself but what of the common people”?

Nwajei identified one Obi Lawrence, as arrow head of the Obi because he doesn’t allow the Obi to see his subjects or have discussions on the affairs of the community. “He begged me to withdraw the case and I told him, I won’t withdraw the case. I told him let us do the right thing and if we don’t do the right thing, I will go to court”, He stated.

“Obi Lawrence has been the problem. Okonjo has the capacity to be a good leader, but this man has been his problem. He doesn’t want people to see the obi, if you go to his palace, Lawrence will come out. He is acting as obi. He will tell you that the professor is sleeping, that he is on drugs, and he will prevent you from seeing the Obi. He is the law, he is the palace, and he is the Obi”.

He stated that Ogwashi Ukwu Development Union (UDO), is bitterly complaining about backwardness of the town.

“The market women are complaining, even the chiefs are complaining that what is happening, that they don’t like it and that they are fed up. So we are pleading that this issue of vigilante is going to cause a lot of problem in Ogwashi-Ukwu because they are now importing the people we don’t know their backgrounds to be vigilante and we are now saying we don’t want these people to be vigilante for the community”.

“If they were good how come the Obi’s wife was kidnapped? When I told them that the vigilante won’t work, they labelled me habitual criminal. I have never been charged to court before, I have never been convicted or detained in a police station before, and so how am I a criminal?” he queried

“I kept saying that Okonjo is a ruler of one percent. He has only three people supporting him. Ogwashi Ukwu is tired. The state government are tired and intimidated by the coordinating Minister”.

He further claimed that the state issued the Obi, certificate and staff of office about 3am and therefore cannot solve the problem of the town.

“There will never going to be a solution. In the history of Ogwashi Ukwu, there will never be peace as long as professor Okonjo is still as Obi. Let me tell you, the Obi has created a problem among the ogwashians. Immediately he came, instead of consulting the chiefs, he dissolved all the chiefs in a quarter where you have two chiefs before he came”.

Nwajei accused the Obi of divide and rule which created the problem of the community.

“Instead of going through the normal channel, he would install his brothers. He will take the junior brother of the other and installed him. He divided his people and created more problems in Ogwashi Ukwu. There are not going to be peace in Ogwashi ukwu until this man leave the throne”, Nwajei said.