All may not be well after all in Nanka Community in Orumba North Council Area of Anambra State, as a part of the town, Amakor village has dissociated itself from a Press conference organized by the leadership of the town, claiming that all the crises within the community have been resolved and the town is now in peace.
On the 29th of August, 2020, the traditional ruler of the town, Igwe Godwin Ezeilo and the President General, Paul Chinedu on behalf of the town Union, addressed a press conference where they said that all matters causing strife and friction in the Orumba South Community had been laid to rest and the people are ready for a fresh start.
However, at a press conference on Friday, the leaders of Amakor, one of the villages that constitute the community, said the ceremony by the town leadership, was a ploy to cover up the obvious disunity, manipulation, abuse of rights, lies, deceit, embezzlement, lawlessness and injustice being meted out to harmless indigenes of the community by the Town Union on the prompting of some cabals.
In a statement, the Chairman of Amakor village, Obinna Ilo said the town leadership’s bogus claim of peace was a clear misrepresentation of the real facts on ground and it has become imperative that they debunk the claims so as not to cover up the obvious crises in the town.
“It is obvious that some individuals have hijacked the peaceful Nanka and introduced a fake system they want to use to manipulate the people’s affairs. They suppress and stifle opposition and in place of liberty, want to entrench oppression. These people are taking advantage of the fact that Nanka is traditionally, not known for crises and Amakor has been bearing the brunt of their evil machinations and that is why we are resisting them,” he said.
The statement revealed that Amakor village is presently seeking redress in court over the perceived injustice meted out to her by denying her the constitutional right to present Onowu Nanka (traditional prime minister), in line with the extant Chieftaincy constitution which states that ‘the Onowu shall always be selected from the next village that will produce Igwe.’
It read further; “Because Amakor is presently not privileged to produce cabals who are pulling shots for Nanka Patriotic Union (NPU), Igwe Godwin Ezeilo, the NPU and the cabals surreptitiously coronated one Chief Kofi Obijiofor from a younger village to Amakor, as Onowu Nanka on the 16th of August, 2019. To celebrate this clear mockery on our people, they addressed that press conference and made bold to say that there is peace in Nanka.
“On our part, we had done everything humanly possible to prevail on NPU and Igwe Ezeilo, to follow the constitution, culture and tradition of Nanka in handling the Amakor issue, but all our efforts were laid waste by the same cabals. Because of these issues, Amakor as the 4th village in Nanka, left NPU and withdrew her loyalty to Igwe Ezeilo effective from 1st of August, 2019. That position stands until Amakor is given its due right and respect.”
The village further alleged that the NPU embezzled the money approved in 2008 by former Governor, Peter Obi, for the construction of classroom blocks at Community Primary School, Amakor, urging the state government to investigate the matter and ensure that those involved are brought to book.
According to them, most of such projects sited in other communities have been long completed and handed over to their respective host communities.
“The actions and conduct of the NPU and Igwe Ezeilo are recipe for communal crises, chaos, hatred, backwardness and possible breakdown of law and order, thus making nonsense of Anambra State Government’s efforts at peace and sustainable development in towns in the state,” the statement said.
However, in his response to the allegations, the NPU President General, Mr Chinedu, described them as entirely false and simply sponsored by a member of the community with ulterior motives.
“What happened was that Amakor and Umudala are usually recognized as one village in Nanka. When it was time to present the candidate for Onowu, the two presented theirs. Along the line, the candidate fielded by Amakor for the Onowu position, yielded to the Umudala candidate and even on the election day, joined the line of his opponent. We were surprised thereafter to hear that Amakor came all of a sudden to say that they were not given their right,” the PG said.
He fingered a known businessman in the community in the whole setup, saying that the actions of Amakor village were politically motivated.
“We know who is behind this and we aware of his intentions to be the traditional ruler of Nanka community. When that ambition failed, he resorted to such negative actions. It is a pity that Amakor people played into his hands because he is not even from Amakor. We make bold to say that Nanka is in peace. The crises they are talking about, do not exist,” Chinedu maintained.
