Crisis erupts in Nno­bi community

Crisis is brewing in Nno­bi community in Idemi­li-South Local Government Area of Anambra State as two quarters Ebenesi and Awuda are enmeshed in supremacy battle over who controls the community.

While fingers point in the direc­tion of Ebenesi quarter as secretly plotting to dethrone His Royal Maj­esty Igwe Nick Obi over alleged am­bitions of some people who are said to be interested to become the Igwe even when the incumbent traditional ruler is still alive, hale and hearty.

The President-General Nnobi Welfare Organization (NWO), Barr. Dominic Savio Okpala, on the oth­er hand, held that Awuda quarter which is the last in the order of seniority, has always constituted a cog in the community’s wheel of progress.

Okpala, who spoke exclusively with this journalist, opined that Awuda always exhibited a superiori­ty complex because they always want to impose their positions and opin­ions on the rest of the community.

He told this journalist that the nature of Awuda quarter manifest­ed when they staged a walkout from the Central Executive Council meet­ing of Nnobi Welfare Organization (NWO) held recently at the town hall.

But the Palace Secretary to His Royal Majesty Igwe Nick Obi, Chief Ezeobi Ajaghaku, who accused Ebe­nesi of using the president general to fight the traditional ruler, said the traditional ruler is a humble, meek, soft handed and a democratic indi­vidual.

Chief Ajaghaku further alleged that some people from Ebenesi quar­ter are masterminding his actions and decisions. He said that the PG of the town is teleguided and misguided as well as mustered the effrontery to challenge the authority of His Royal Majesty Igwe Nick Obi and the authority of Awuda community meeting.

The palace secretary maintained that those beating the drums of war in the Nnobi community were the same group of coup plotters insti­gating the President-General against the entire community.

He said that the president gen­eral seemed to be oblivious of the fact that the traditional ruler is an institution of its own and that Ok­pala Nnobi and the Igwe-in-council are both under the jurisdiction of the traditional ruler.

Chief Ezeobi posited that the President-General of Nnobi Welfare Organization wants to rubbish the traditional ruler because of those beating the drums of war for him. He said that there are people from Ebenesi who are interested in the stool of Igweship of the Nnobi com­munity.

The palace secretary, who ac­cused Barr. Dominic Savio Okpala (PG) of being one of the maseminds, maintained that the Ebenesi power bloc even boasted publicly that they would unseat the traditional ruler and hat they are on a mission to de­stroy His Royal Majesty Igwe Nick Obi.

But in his response, Okpala noted that the claims from the palace sec­retary were lies.

Okpala said that the truth of the matter is that Igwe Nnobi is from Awuda quarter and that the norm is that every administration of Nnobi Welfare Organization must conform to the rules of Awuda community, if not, Awuda people will make the town ungovernable.

Okpala said that his administra­tion came on board and he swore that he would lead with the Nnobi town constitution. He said that the town constitution is what he has been im­plementing without bias to anybody.

He said a Peace Committee was set up to resolve issues in the com­munity and that part of the issues was the interference of the tradi­tional institution in the town gover­nance.

He said that the Igwe’s meddle­someness in town union matters has persisted for far too long. This, according to him, prompted a letter he wrote to the Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Community Affairs in November last year, stating all he was going through in the hands of the tradi­tional ruler.

The president-general said there­after Igwe’s camp wrote a letter to the Local Government Commis­sioner and he equally did a rejoin­der and after his rejoinder, Okpala Nnobi whom he said was second to Igwe Nnobi in the traditional ladder, pleaded with the town union to han­dle the crisis in Nnobi in order to engender peace.

The President-General said Okpa­la Nnobi and the Onowu then began the peace process in the Nnobi com­munity devoid of the involvement of the town union. He said the Peace Committee was a 30-man composi­tion comprising 10 persons from each of the three quarters of Nnobi.

According to him, when the peace report was released, a petition came from Awuda quarter that the report should be discountenanced and dis­regarded because they didn’t sign it even though they participated fully in all the discussions and delibera­tions of the committee.

The president-general also told this journalist that a protest letter emanated from Awuda quarter. The protest letter which was the fallout of the peace committee report was subjected to statutory voting at a re­cent Central Executive Council meet­ing of Nnobi Welfare Organization. At the CEC meeting, the PG noted that the protest letter from Awuda community was voted out by dele­gates and Awuda people staged a walkout from the meeting.

Although he recalled that the CEC meeting continued with other agen­da after Awuda people attempted to disrupt the meeting with their walk­out, he said when the peace report was eventually laid down for con­sideration, the Onowu complained that he has been bombarded with serious threatening phone calls and messages from some members of the Igwe-In-Council that he should not under any circumstance lay the report.

Onowu Nnobi presented WhatsApp evidence of the threat­ening messages sent to his phone by some members of the Igwe-in-coun­cil. The president-general, however, informed that nobody would want to take over the throne of a living mon­arch because it is not done anywhere.

Okpala maintained that he doesn’t know whether anyone is plotting to dethrone Igwe Nick Obi but what he can say for certain as the Presi­dent-General of Nnobi community is that the people are not happy with the interference and meddlesome­ness of the traditional institution in town union matters.

He said in spite of media reports creating an atmosphere of crisis in Nnobi, the president-general main­tained that Nnobi is peaceful and there is no crisis whatsoever in the community.

He also said that allegations of protests by youths of the community against his office were baseless and unfounded as no such thing has ever occurred since he became the PG of Nnobi town.

He said there has not been any­thing like placard-carrying by youths against his leadership and no petition whatsoever has been written regarding high-handedness in office and that the only problem in the Nnobi community is that Awuda wants the community to be under its thumb.