An Obi’s Misadventure

The Obi of Onitsha. Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe.

Five years after his misadventure into the chieftaincy matter of Obeagwe community in Ogbaru LGA of Anambra State, the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, continues to rub his royal robes in the mud

By Alex Ameh

Inspite of his sartorial elegance, that the famed trading city of Onitsha, Anambra State, is still en-
meshed in fractitious existence is, perhaps, traceable to only one individual: Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, Obi of Onitsha.
Indeed, since his assumption of the highly revered traditional stool of the people of Onitsha Ado N’Idu eight years ago, following the demise of the last holder of the throne, the much respected Obi Ofala Okagbue, controversy, acnmony and discord have been the immediate derivatives of Obi Achebe’s reign.
But whilst still grappling with these negative attributes which have led to the alienation of several top notch Onitsha indigenes, including – but not limited to – Chief Arthur Mbanefo, former Nigeria High Commissioner to the United Nations (UN), who was dethroned as Odu of Onitsha, and Onowu Olisa Mortune, the traditional Prime Minister who he equally deposed, Obi Achebe has gone several steps forward in retrogressing the 500-year-old traditional institution of Onitsha which his forebears held in dignity and without blemish.
For the first time in recent memory, the toga of Onitsha as a centre of commerce and the reputation of the people as proud custodians of culture within their natural and geographical boundary, is being tainted with accusations of land-grab and extension of cultural influence beyond their boundaries, no thanks to Obi Achebe’s wilful attempt to extend his kingdom into a community which lies about 45 kiliometres away from Onitsha.
In fact, as things currently stand, the Obi’s continuing meddlesomeness in the traditional affairs of Obeagwe, a community in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State, is threatening the peaceful co-habitation of the 12 villages which make up the community, and anarchy is looming as a result.
The latest, in a series of actions aimed at forcing a traditional ruler on Obeagwe, is an alleged move by Igwe Achebe to coerce the Anambra state government into issuing certificate of recognition to his preferred candidate, in exchange for his undiluted support in the February 6, 2010 gubernatorial election in the state.
Expected to be the climax of a five-year stalemate in the Royal kingship of Obeagwe, since the involvement of Igwe Achebe in the matter, indigenes of the community are currently threatening hell should the state government, for ulterior political ends, accede to Igwe Achebe’s curious demand.
Documents available to The Source indicate that Igwe Achebe had, in a letter dated February 1, 2005 to Dr. Chris Ngige, at the time governor of Anambra State, urged him to approve the candidature of one Mr. Emmanuel Patrick Chukuma Obiorah as “the next Obi,” for the simple reason that the said candidate traced his “genealogy going back to Eze Alori of Onitsha.”
In the four-page letter replete with historical inaccuracies, disjointed and sacrilegious tales, deliberate distortions and outright falsehood, the eminent kingship of Onitsha was brought into disrepute by the seeming eagerness of Igwe Achebe to extend the frontiers of Onitsha kingdom.
From the founding of Obeagwe community to its Igweship institution, historical ties and contemporary challenges, Igwe Achebe’s position was a cocktail of fallacious presentations not supported by any logic, reality and or common sense.
For instance, as part of the introduction of his letter, Achebe wrote: “My interest is based on the fact that the people of Obeagwe, comprising of the two villages of Umuezealori and Umuezeigala, originally migrated from, and still maintain close links with their kith and kin in, my domain, Onitsha.”
Countering this assertion – and several others made by Igwe Achebe – the Ndichie (Traditional Council) of Obeagwe Umuezeigala, in its own letter dated January 4, 2005, and addressed to Ngige, stated that “the forebears of the Umeezeigala people migrated undisputedly from the Royal Family of Idah, an Igala-speaking ancient kingdom in Kogi State (formerly in Benue State), as far back as 900-1,000 years ago. The Umuezeigala people who were then solely fishermen settled off the shoreline of the River Niger at an old site called Obiochie (ancestral homestead), from where they eked out a living from the River Niger and some inland tributaries of the River Niger.”
According to them, this settlement soon flourished and in time evolved its own traditions and customs, understandably, heavily influenced by their Igala ancestry. They were later to evolve into nine villages, namely: Umunma, Umuakpa, Umuekekeobodo, Umuafuluju, Umuanuwanyi, Umuogbor, Umuikazu, Umuagbu, and Umuona (with the last now extinct).
For the people now known as Umuezealori, the Ndichie of Obeagwe Umuezeigala stated” upon their arrival in the community about 400 years ago, they were received by the now defunct Umuona village, which because of its scant population had a penchant for receiving strayers. “Owing to its scanty population, the said Umuona village had a penchant for the acceptance and assimilation of strangers and later arrivals, hence the acceptance and assimilation of the peoples of Umuagha, Umuiyasele (from Onitsha), and Umuogini (the most recent from Oguta in Imo State). These three groups of people existed quietly under the wing and protection of the said Umuona village of Obeagwe Umuezeigala till early 1900s when the last surviving male of the original Umuona stock died – Umuona kindred thus went mysteriously extinct. Thereafter, these three strangers, dominated and outnumbered by the Umuiyasele elements (Onitsha migrants), for want of a common identity, assumed the common name of Umuezealori, and jointly inherited the extinct Umuona village estate,” the Ndichies wrote.
According to them, “the foregoing accounts for the aberration inherent in these kindreds constituting one village (Umuezealori) in Obeagwe and inheriting a common estate, as opposed to the case in the other eight villages of Umuezeigala, where each village is comprised of one kindred only (people with a common ancestry).”
In the light of the above submissions, some obvious conclusions, The Source was told, are immediately discernable:
*The claim that the people of Obeagwe Umuezeigala migrated from Onitsha with Umuezealori is both baseless and mischievous;
*The claim that the amorphous elements commonly referred to as Umuezealori settled earlier than Umuezeigala people is as preposterous as it is unsupportable;
*Umuezeigala neither has any kith and kin in Onitsha, nor did they ever maintain any links with any Onitsha indigene in that regard; and
*Onitsha was not a mandatory stopover for Igala migrants (as erroneously canvassed by Igwe Achebe); just as Obeagwe does not comprise of two, but 11 existing villages.
In fact, the Obi of Onitsha was to display his crass ignorance of the traditions and culture of several Ogbaru communities when he unwittingly wrote that “Along with other Igala settlements in Ogbaru Local Government Area, such as Odekpe and Osamala (sci), and their counterparts on the western banks of the River Niger, the Umuezeigala Village (sic) of Obeagwe has historically had an Okakwu as Head (usually the eldest male person).”
Apart from the fact that the foregoing claim is simply unfounded on all three counts, Okakwu, The Source gathered, is the official designation of the traditional ruler of Odekpe and Ossomala communities.
As for Obeagwe, the community has never had – and does not have – Okakwu as any title, be it for an Okpala (oldest male), or for the town’s traditional rulers. On the contrary, the Okpala of Obeagwe, from time beyond human memory, goes by the title Oduah, while the next in line is designated Omodi. For Odekpe, the Okpala is designated Ikaka, followed by the Ojoko– facts easily verifiable from any official record of traditional rulers in Anambra State and Ogbaru in particular.
Particularly instructive is that Obi Achebe, in the correspondence under review, conveniently copied it to the “Oduo of Obeagwe”, instead of the Okakwu which he tried, without success, to foist on the community.
Furthermore, the claim by the Obi that the Umuezealori people inhabited present-day Obeagwe before their Umuezeigala brothers pales into nothingness when put side by side the fact that the common deity of the Obeagwe community- Osabagwe- still retains its ancient shrine at Obiochie (ancestral homestead), while the town site is located in the Umuezeigala part of the community. The production of the priests of this common deity designated the Agbu, is, The Source gathered, the exclusive preserve of the Umuagbu kindred of Obeagwe Umuezeigala. The entire people of Obeagwe reverence the monitor lizard, symbol of the Osabagwe..
Even Ani, the earth goddess, is overseen by the Okai, the exclusive preserve of Umuanunwayi village of Umuezeigala.
Irked by the odious suggestion by Obi Achebe that Obeagwe community may well be split “into two autonomous communities” as a way out of the crisis, and or the introduction of the “principle of rotation of the Obiship (sic),” the Council of Ogbaru Traditional Rulers expressed surprise at the involvement of Igwe Achebe in the chieftaincy matter in Obeagwe.
In a January 12, 2006 resolution sent to then Governor Ngige, the Ogbaru traditional rulers lamented the Obi’s “distorted and falsified history of kingship institution in Obeagwe community.”
Signed by its chairman, HRH Eze (Dr.) V.B.C. Onyema II, Igwe of Ogwu-Ikpele, and supported by two others, Dr. Obi Ogene, Igwe of Amiyi and Dr. N.I. Esimai, Igwe of Ohita, the traditional rulers noted that “there is only one Obeagwe autonomous community in Ogbaru Local Government Area, NOT Onitsha.”
Continuing, the Council of Ogbaru Traditional Rulers said: “If the Obi of Onitsha really acknowledges the people of “Obeagwe Umuezealiri” as “Onitsha Umuezealori,” they should be accorded chieftaincy rights and priviledges in Onitsha where they claim ancestral affinity,” adding “we cannot understand Igwe Achebe’s confrontational interference in the chieftaincy system in Obeagwe.”
Countering Obi Achebe’s attempt to impose a traditional ruler on the people, the Ogbaru Igwes observed that Dr. Patrick Nwasike, a retired Assitant Director with the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Warri, Delta State and a knight of the Catholic Church, has “been selected and installed Igwe of Obeagwe by the people of Obeagwe.”
The dispute between both parties, The Source gathered, dates back some 46 years ago when an attempt to upset the traditional apple cart in the community by someone from the Umuezealori stock was resisted by the Umuezeigala people.
Before then, the Umuezealori people had, as a matter of accepted historical reality, fully subscribed, adapted and integrated themselves into the existing tradtion which make it mandatory for the oldest person in Umuezealori to defer to his Umuezeigala counterpart, even if the former had biological age superiority.
As a result of the foregoing, community meetings and decisions were reached in the residence of the Oduah of Umuezeigala, just as the traditional feasts of Ulor and Okposi were mainly rounded off at the same place.
However, in the 1964 incident, the then Ogene of Obeagwe, Ogene Obiora of the Umuezeigala stock had exercised his priviledge in picking his share of kolanut during an Igbuu ozo title celebration, ahead of one Chief Nwaogu of Umuezealori, who objected in vain on the grounds of his age superiority over Ogene Obiora. This was in keeping with the practice that any Igbuu Ozo initiate from Umuezeigala breaks the kolanut (Iwa-oji), takes a share of kolanut or whatever, before any Igbuu ozo initiate of the Umuezealori stock. But determined to halt what they regarded as a humiliating culture, the Umuezealori people reportedly left the venue of the ceremony in anger, and thereafter began to do things separately. This trend, The Source gathered, continued until the mid-1970s when they ganged up to contest the chieftaincy position with Igwe Okolie Afuberoh I, who the people of Obeagwe had chosen after the last occupant of the throne died.
Afuberoh triumphed and was accorded government recognition, whereupon he ruled from 1976 until he died in 1994.
Although five years have since passed since Igwe Achebe’s meddlesoneness in the matter began, it assumed new dimensions recently, despite his open promise to a delegation of Umuezeigala people who paid him a visit at his request and properly acquitted him with the true historical ancedents of the parties in the Igweship dispute in Obeagwe, that he would retract his declared views in the light of the proper information and facts brought to his attention.
Indeed, apart from helping stall the issuance of a certificate of recognition to the popularly accepted candidate, Nwasike, Igwe Achebe, The Source was told, has not only continued to prevail on the state government not to constitute a panel of inquiry to look into the matter, as recommended by the Council of Ogbaru Traditional Rulers, but also ceaselessly fans the embers of discord by encouraging the people of Umuezealori to invite hostile neighbours to invade Obeagwe lands. A case in point is the recent instigation, allegedly by Umuezealori people, of Akili Ogidi community to take over an island, Agwe Ukwu belonging to both sides. Much in the same way as the invitation of Ogwu-Aniocha, another large community, through Umuonitsha village, to forcibly enter Obeagwe land.
Only last Christmas, the rumour mills had been rife with stories of an alleged plot by Igwe Achebe, working in cohort with the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Dubem Obaze, ironically an Ogbaru son, to get the state government to formally recognise Patrick Obiorah as Igwe of Obeagwe. This story, which was initially dismissed by a majority of the town’s people as simply “impossible” has, however, begun to assume a semblance of reality following the open boasts of Obiora’s family members.
Indeed, on Saturday, January 9, 2010, Obiora had moved from his Okoti, Odekpe base to Umuezealori, slaughtered two cows and proceded to adopt the title Agbogidi, a nomenclature associated with Onitsha, but not known to any Ogbaru community.
The latest move by the Obiora group, inspite of the ongoing efforts by a caretaker committee headed by Nnanyelugo Emeka Ogene, a banker, to resolve all existing disputes in the community took many by surprise
“It is a move capable of rupturing the current climate of calm which we currently have in the community. Thus far, Dubem Obaze has not shown any sense of urgency in resolving the 10-year-old dispute in Obeagwe and if charity ought to begin at home, my summation is that he has failed woefully as a politician. To stand against the expressed wish of majority of Obeagwe indigenes, Ogbaru communities and their traditional rulers, as the commissioner appears to be doing, is not only distasteful, but a sure recipe for chaos and anarchy,” Akunnia Victor Ogene, a journalist and chairman, Obeagwe Improvement Union, Lagos, said.
He recalled that sometime in July, 2008, the Obi on Onitsha had visited Igwe V.B.C. Onyema in his Onitsha GRA residence, alongside two of his chiefs, and implored him, with veiled threats, to support his position on the matter. Not long afterwards, Igwe Onyema had crisis instigated in his community and is still trying to resolve the matter.
Ogene, who is also president, League of Ogbaru Professionals (LOP), an aggregation of Ogbaru professionals based in Lagos, wondered why no Onitsha indigene has ever gone to stake a cliam to the Obaship of Bini Kingdom for the sole reason that the founder of the Onitsha dynasty, Prince Eweka, was a Bini Prince – in the same manner that he wants to impose Obiora on the people of Obeagwe because of his alleged Onitsha ancestry.
Commenting on the issue, Obiora Akabogu, a lawyer and native of Awka, Anambra State, told The Source that the eminent Onitsha monarch was merely fishing in troubled waters by his insistence on an unpopular candidate.
Obiroa: “The truth of the matter is that chieftaincy matters are governed by state laws and these laws are made by the state House of Assembly. The governor cannot unilaterally appoint a traditional ruler without recourse to the due process of law. Recently, a similar scenario – like the one you’ve just painted– occurred in Nteje, Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State. Whilst the minority candidate had government support, the people of the community sided with the other contender and the impasse was only resolved when the government sent a team to Nreje and physical voting was done and the peoples’ choice was enthroned. I see the Obeagwe crisis unravelling in much the same way.”
Although both Nwasike, who already goes by the title Igwe, and Emeka Ogene, current President-General of Obeagwe Town Union, refused to comment on the present situation of things, it is nonetheless, clearly evident that the much-sought return to peace may take an even longer time in coming.