IGBOZURUOKE FORUM

Enugu community at war

Enugu’s CP, Emmanuel Ojukwu

By Sunday Ani

For two days, between April 10 and 11, 2016, youths from Ugbene quarters, Alor-Uno community, in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State allegedly took up arms against the other sections of the community, wounding and maiming people as well as burning cars, destroying houses and carting away property and physical cash from their victims’ houses.
When the dust of what the rampaging youths inflicted on the community settled, no fewer than 14 people had sustained various bodily injuries ranging from machete cuts to physical blows, with about five houses completely razed and over 20 vandalized. The people also discovered after the incident that one car was completely burnt while five other cars were totally vandalized, with over 12 motorcycles and N570, 000 stolen.
When Daily Sun visited the community, victims were still counting their losses while the wounded were still recuperating from the injuries sustained. There were palpable fears in the community, as the people continued to live in fear of another possible attack. According to investigation, there were about three grounds of disagreement in the community, which collectively, led to the attack. First, there is the contention about the actual number of quarters that make up the community. While one group contends that in the last 500 years, the community has always been divided along the three quarters of Uwani, Ejuona and Amikpo, the second group insists that it has always been two quarters, which are Ugbene and Ejuona.
Secondly, there is the issue of which quarter controls the leadership of the community’s town union and finally, there is also the issue of Ugbene people claiming that people from the other quarters were referring to them as slaves.
From all the narrations by both parties, the point that appeared to have been the last straw that broke the camel’s back was the alleged reference to Ugene people as slaves by the other sections of the community.
However, when Daily Sun visited the President-General of Alor-Uno Town Union, Mr. Gilbert Omeje, who is from Ogbueke village, in Uwani Quarters of the community, he explained how he narrowly escaped death from the rampaging Ugbene youths. He also tried to situate properly, to the best of his knowledge, the history of the community and what he thought could have been responsible for the attack. Although he escaped untouched, his car and house were vandalized by the youths.
According to Omeje, who is the pioneer president of the town union, the problem started when he set up a Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) in 2014, to look at how the leadership of the town union could be rotated among the three quarters that make up the community. He alleged that while the CDC was trying to work out a modality for town union leadership rotation, the Ugbene people came up with the argument that the community would no longer rotate the president among the three existing quarters of Uwani, Ejuona and Amikpo, as history allegedly established for over 500 years. He said they argued that it should now be rotated between Ugbene and Ejuona quarters, excluding Uwani, which is the eldest and Amikpo, the youngest of the three historical quarters, not minding the fact that Ugbene is part of Uwani.
“The committee,” he said: “failed due to this disagreement and I set up another constitution committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Nelson Chibuzo Ogbonna, an Ugbene man, in 2015. They continued with the same issue, which marred the success of the first committee. The committee worked for over one year without success. They could not reach a consensus; they initially insisted that the three quarters would now be Umuore, Umuohoko and Ugbene, but later they came up with Uwuenu, Ugbene and Ndiagbor versus Uwani, Ejuona and Amikpo or alternatively, Ugbene and Ejuona. So, to the best of my knowledge, that was the beginning of the problem.”
Asked why the Ugbene people wanted the leadership of the town union to be rotated, he said rotation was not the issue because naturally, it should be rotated among Uwani, Ejuona and Amikpo. He insisted that Ugbene people who are part of Ejuona, as history recorded, just wanted to take over from him even when his tenure has not expired.
On the efforts of the Ugbene people to dethrone him, he said: “As they could not resolve the issue of the quarters, a petition was written against me to the Enugu State Ministry of Rural Development, which oversees the activities of town unions and my certificate was suspended when the administration of Sullivan Chime was winding down. Another petition was later written against me and the traditional ruler of the community. We appeared before the state commissioner for rural development, who later divided the community into Ugbene and Ejuona, without recourse to my explanations or that of the Igwe. But, Igwe, rejected the division of the community into two quarters there and then and insisted on the existing three quarters, which his forefathers handed over to him.
“So, on October 30, 2015, I dissolved the CDC. And according to the commissioner, I should not exceed December 31, 2015 in office but my tenure is supposed to end by August 5, 2016, according to my certificate because the initial constitution says six-year-tenure. Some of them started envying me, saying that I have gone for a second tenure and that I don’t want to give room for others to occupy the position. They even said that the Igwe is supporting me because he is my father-in-law.”
Having refused to relinquish the position of the town union president, he had a raw taste of the anger of some youths on January 10, who allegedly smashed his car glasses when they invaded his compound. He said after the incident, he wanted to take the matter up with the attackers but for the intervention of Alor-Uno brethren, he allowed peace to reign. “We went for reconciliation and the brethren divided the community into the original three quarters but renamed them to Uwani, Etiti and Uwenu just to carry everybody along. But, Igwe protested against restructuring his community without involving him. He insisted that they ought to have carried him along in such exercise. There and then, the Ugbene people walked out from the reconciliation and just about two weeks after the incident, they started vandalizing people’s houses, cars as well as inflicting physical injuries on people from the other communities outside Ugbene,” he said.
Speaking on the mayhem, he said: “It was on April 10 that they started the madness, but my own house was attacked on April 11. Over 20 houses, including a church was touched, with five houses set ablaze by the youth from Ugbene quarter. In fact, hell was let lose by the Ugbene people on the rest of us. To my knowledge, the leadership of the town union is the bone of contention in all of these; any other thing is secondary. They started with the constitution; then the quarter problem and now he is talking about marginalization and that they are being referred to as slaves. They also said there is a track road where they are forbidden from passing through but all those stories are not true.”
On the allegation that the Ugbene people attacked his community and others because they were being referred to as slaves, he denied the allegation, saying, “First, slavery happened in the olden days. Nobody at this modern age should be talking of slaves. I have said it earlier that there is no Jews or Gentiles in Alor-Uno because I am an ardent Christian. They are just using it as a tool to weigh us down. Secondly, they can’t talk of marginalization because, when we were operating Community Development Committee, Jonathan Adeji, an Ugbene man, was the chairman for many years, until his death. Before him was the father of the immediate past councilor, who was the Chairman of Alor-Uno Progressive Union and we did not quarrel. The recent ex-councilor is from Ugbene. They went for councillorship four consecutive times and we never complained; so how are we marginalizing them? They just want to concoct a story that would attract sympathy for them, but if you investigate properly, you would find out that they are the ones treating us as slaves. I think the only solution to the problem is to give the Ugbene people their own autonomous community.”
Traditional ruler speaks
When Daily Sun visited the residence of the traditional ruler of Alor-Uno, Chief Ngwu Nweze, Igwe 11 of Alor-Uno, who has been on the throne for 56 years, having ascended it in 1960, he pointedly accused the people of Ugbene of being behind the mayhem in the community. He confirmed that the community as handed over to him by his forbears was divided into three quarters of Uwani, Ejuona and Amikpo. He lamented that Ugbene people, who are part of Ejuona were the ones causing the problem in the community by trying to change the original three quarters to two.
“It was the people of Ugbene that caused the problem. Alor Uno has three quarters. They are: Uwani, Ejuona and Amikpo. Ugbene is part of Ejuona, no matter their number, except they want another quarter, so that we shall be four quarters. Alternatively, they can seek for their own autonomous community. The constitution that made me Igwe even recognized three quarters. That was the genesis of the problem,” he said.
On the claim by Ugbene people that they are called slaves and that they are being discriminated and marginalized, the Igwe said: “As far as I know, there is nothing like slave in this community and nobody called anybody slave. See what they did when nobody called them slave and imagine what would have happened if actually they were referred to as slaves. They injured a lot of people in the process; destroyed houses; destroyed cars; stole money and property and caused a lot of havoc. Assuming other communities had gone for reprisal, it would have been bloodier but I appealed to them not to retaliate and they listened to me. My son lost his motorcycle to them.”
On the possible solution to the problem, Igwe Nweze said: “I have asked them to apply for their own autonomous community. Attempts had been made in the past towards getting this autonomous community but instead of doing the right thing, they included part of the other two quarters as belonging to their own quarters and that was why it has not been successful. We have even met with the governor who warned us against any further trouble. He asked us to live in peace and commended the other two quarters for not retaliating.”
 Nelson Chibuzo Ogbonna reacts
Ogbonna, who was the chairman of the defunct constitution drafting committee, has been named variously as one of the leaders of Ugbene people. When Daily Sun visited his house, he denied having incited his people against anybody but insisted that his people of Ugbene were being called names by the other quarters.
He said: “They were calling us names. Some people feel they are the owners of the land and they feel some people are foreigners or slaves, but that assumption is wrong because there is nothing like slave in this community. We all came and met the community like that.”
On the claim that the community has always been divided into three quarters, he dismissed it and maintained that from the beginning, the community has existed along two stands – Ugbene and Ejuona. He accused the traditional ruler of the community of trying to manipulate history. He said: “From the beginning, the community has existed along two stands. It has always been two quarters – Ugbene and Ejuona. The three quarters they are trying to convince people about are the creation of the present Igwe. I was not there when it was created, but it is on record that the quarters were two and not three. But the Igwe is trying to manipulate history by referring to pre-historical creation. It is just like Nigeria saying we should go back to pre-1914, before Lord Lugard and assume that that is what should obtain in this present time.”
He also went down memory lane to support his argument that the community is divided along two lines and not three. He said: “The Anglican Church came into Alor-Uno in 1928 and the Ejuona people embraced it. Much later, the Catholic Church came and Ugbene people embraced it. Even in educational system, there are two schools in Alor-Uno – Community Primary School and Central School. They are also situated according to the quarters; the former for Ejuona and the latter for Ugbene. In the traditional worship system, it is divided into two. We have a very strong deity in our place called Adoro-Ero. The Ejuona people worship the oracle called Nwada Adoro-Ero, while the Ugbene people worship the main oracle, which is the Adoro Ero. The Chief Priest of Adoro is usually from Ugbene – it is not contested. It has always been like that. Then in our festivities, such as Omabe, we took turns to stage it. We, the Ugene people will stage our own, for instance, this year and in the next two years, the Ejuona people will also stage theirs. We will stage the Onunu festival this year and after one year, they will stage theirs and that is how we know quarters in the ancient time.
“It is just now that Christianity has overtaken everywhere and the worshippers have become fewer in number and that is why they now try to see if they can come together but originally, it was not so.  So, the contention of Ugbene people is that in Alor-Uno, we know that there exist Ejuona, Amikpo and Uwani and that if you give them one kernel to share, there won’t be any problem because they will be able to share it without having any quarrel. In the same vein, if you give the Ugbene people a kernel to share, there won’t be any problem as well. ”
On the alleged of marginalization of Ugbene people, he insisted that a powerful politician from the other side has been responsible for that. He stressed that any time a political opportunity presents itself in the community; the other side would want to take everything leaving Ugbene with nothing. He cited the case of town union president, whom he alleged was single-handedly picked and foisted on them by the Igwe as one of the few cases of marginalization of Ugbene people.
On the allegation that those who attacked the community were from Ugbene, he said it is not true, although he narrated the event that could have led to the attack by Ugbene youths.   He accepted that the event of April 10 and 11 could have been a reprisal by aggrieved youth of Ugbene over the ill treatments meted to some of them by the other people, one of which includes calling them slaves.
“The whole attack started on February 6, 2016. There was an event in one of their villages, Umu-eze village near Amadim, and they blocked everywhere. Somebody from Ugbene was going to Achom, and there was no access for him and he pleaded with them to make way for him but instead, they descended on him, calling him a slave. Another day, a young man from Achom in Ugbene came home from Kogi State and wanted to buy things from the community. He ran into them and they blocked his way and started beating him. As he was shouting for help, they dragged him into the compound of the person who was celebrating and locked up the gate and dealt with him using axes and knives.  Nobody retaliated. But, on April 9, there was another attack on an indigene of Ugbene in the same village and on the same spot. So, after the latest attack, youths from Ugbene went for a kind of reprisal. And because they knew what they did, they all ran away and that was why it was property that was attacked and not human beings. It was those that dealt with the young man that he also organized reprisal attack against.”
He denied being the brain behind the attacks, saying, “I cannot be the brain behind the attack because I don’t live in the village. I live in the town and I didn’t even know that anything happened. They are just trying to frame and rope people in and not that they knew what happened.”
Victims recount ordeals
Hon Christian Abugu – Hon Abugu, is an Executive Assistant to the Enugu State governor, Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. He also had a raw taste of the fury of Ugbene youth. His Passat wagon car was vandalized and the window and door glasses of his house were utterly smashed. He said they visited his house on April 10 around 8:30 pm but he was fast to have smelt danger and disappeared. He also lost a motorcycle after the rampaging youths left his house. “They made away with my motorcycle parked in my compound and up till now, they have not returned it. And I am not an executive member of the town union; I was attacked just for being a member of this community,” he said.
Comrade Chijioke Ezema – Ezema, who was the secretary of the CDC constituted by Mr. Omeje wondered why he should be the target of the youth. According to him, his family house was attacked about 9:30pm on April 10 by about 30 men welding machetes, axes and other deadly weapons. His car was smashed, his father, Fredrick Ezema, sustained machete cuts while his elder brother, who just buried his late wife earlier that day, also had his jeep vandalized. He said they entered into their sitting room, smashed the television set, ransacked the entire building and made away with over N570, 000, which his elder brother realized from family members and friends, who attended the burial ceremony of his wife earlier that day.
He said: “Originally we had three quarters; they are Uwani, Ejuona and Amikpo. For many years, it has been like that but recently they came up with the concept that only two quarters should exist. The quarters they proposed are Ugbene and Ejuona, but remember that Ugbene is part of Ejuona. I think due to the large population of Ejuona, the Ugbene people decided to break away from Ejuona without following due process.  And in the process, they came up with the idea that the whole community is made up of two quarters – Ejuona and Ugbene and that Uwani and Amikpo are no longer in existence. But, in 2006 or thereabout, Amikpo and Uwani came together and were able to get Amikpo/Uwani Development Centre during the administration of Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani as the state governor, which my uncle, Hon Anthony Eze, was the pioneer chairman. All these things are documented. I think this is the only thing I know that is a communal issue.”
He denied the allegation that Ugbene people were being referred to as slaves. He maintained that he was totally in the dark as to what could have informed the crisis except the allegation that they   allegedly wanted to hijack both the authority of the Igwe and town union president without following due process.
Attacks continue
      Reports indicate that peace is far from returning to Alor-Uno community. According to Chijioke Ezema, one Osondu Ozioko and his colleague were on May 14 attacked. Ozioko was alleged to have sustained machete cuts all over his body and his motorcycle and that of his colleague were snatched from them. Unfortunately, they are not from Alor-Uno; they are from a neighbouring Ibagwa-Ani community, but were mistaken to be people from the other part of Alor Uno.
Ezema also informed our reporter that on May 15, the same group of boys attacked four houses, including shops. According to him, in one of the shops belonging to one Obinna Ugwu, they made away with his sewing and weaving machines. The residence of another man identified as Sunday Ugwu also came under attack on the same May 15. The house was vandalized and the invaders made away with his domestic animals but he escaped unhurt.
When the Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ebere Amaraizu, was contacted on phone for an update on the development in the community, he said he would actually love to speak on the matter but he was about boarding an aircraft. He promised to get back to the reporter, but up till the time of filing this report, he was yet to fulfill his promise. However, subsequent calls put through to him by the reporter were not answered.

Courtesy: Daily Sun,ngr