The people of the Isuaniocha community in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State have, in protest, rejected their newly elected Traditional ruler, Barrister Mpuorah Ngini, over persistent land disputes in the area.
They lamented that at the moment, the community does not need any Traditional ruler until peace, fairness, and Justice are restored in the town.
The protesters who stormed the State Government House along the Enugu-Onitsha motorway in Awka on Wednesday with various inscriptions, such as Governor Soludo, please listen to our cry; we don’t need Igwe now; the Isuaniocha community needs peace, not Igwe; nobody votes for or elects the Igwe; we are here for peace and not fight; Chikodi Anara is known to have sponsored crises in Awka North and beyond, among others, equally demanded that Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo should sack the state Commissioner for Homeland Affairs, Chief Chikodi Anara, for being behind 95 per cent of the crisis rocking the community and replace him with men of integrity, which is evidently available in the Awka North Council Area.
The Nigerian Tribune gathered that the protest was a result of the controversy surrounding the emergence of a traditional ruler of the community who was given a certificate of recognition by Governor Soludo on Monday this week.
Speaking further to Journalists shortly after presenting their protest letter to the State Government, the acting President General of Isuaniocha Community, Fred Chukwuma Egwunwa, insisted that the state government should withdraw the certificate from the Monarch at the moment and focus on how to settle all the crises befallen the community.
He said that the community has a tradition of choosing its Igwe, not through an electoral process. It has never been done in Isuaniocha, and it will never be done.
So that the certificate of return given to Barrister Mpuorah Ngini be withdrawn in order to avoid throwing the community into a state of anarchy, the PG appealed.
Egwunwa noted that the crisis started with the sale of Isuaniocha Community Secondary School land in 2018, which was masterminded by one Hon. Comas Okonkwo and spearheaded by Hon. Chikodi Anara, from a neighbouring community of Amunuke, who is currently the State Commissioner for Homeland Affairs. And the crisis had led to the wanton destruction of lives and properties in the community.
Meanwhile, the State Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Community Affairs, Hon. Anthony Collins Nwabunewanne, in his prompt reaction on behalf of the Government, maintains that the Traditioner ruler was duelling elected by the majority of Isuaniocha people and he will never be removed as the elected Monarch of the town.
According to the Commissioner, Barr. Ngini was elected as demanded by the people of the community through a keen contest via option A4 between him and his closet rival, Chief Donatus Okeke, and during the election, Igwe Ngini scored 375 votes to defeat Chief Okeke, who got 329 votes in an open field exercise.
“We don’t impose the monarchy on them. Land struggles are the major problem the community is facing.
“As far as I am concerned, the Government has given him the certificate of return, and the governor has charged him to go and bring peace to the community.
So the people should allow him to do his work as the recognised traditional ruler of the community.
“Our business here is to see how peace can come to every community in the state, the Commissioner added.
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