The Obibi Uratta Community in Owerri North Council Area of Imo State has been thrown into confusion following the alleged dethronement of the traditional ruler of the community, Eze Amaobi Uwaleke, by the state governor, Hope Uzodimma.
Uwaleke, the Obilobi of Uratta Ancient Kingdom was accorded a letter of recognition and presented with a staff of office by the former governor of the state, Senator Rochas Okorocha.
Uzodimma had on Friday 14th, February presented staff of office to 51 newly recognised traditional rulers in the state who either filled the vacuum created by the demise of some traditional rulers or were newly installed by their communities during which he replaced some with new ones.
However, indigenes of the Obibi Uratta who expressed shock over the alleged sacking of their monarch by the state government have stuck tenaciously to the ezeship stool of the deposed monarch with a vow never to have any business to do with the purported new monarch, Boniface Ariri.
When The Nation visited the palace of Eze Uwaleke on Tuesday, scores of his subjects including cabinet chiefs, Chairman of Oha Uratta Supreme Council, and other titleholders were seen holding a brief meeting.
They said that they would defend the sacredness of the stool with the last of their blood.
Reacting to the development, Eze Uwaleke who received staff of office and a letter of recognition on the 14th of August 2018 from the defunct Rochas Okorocha administration as the Eze Udo IV of the community, dismissed his dethronement as mere rumour, baseless, null, and void and of no effect.
“The news of my dethronement is a mere rumour because I have not received any letter or a telephone call from the state government informing me that I am no longer the Eze of my people”
Uwaleke argued that it is an established Igbo tradition and custom that the people should be allowed to choose who becomes their traditional ruler and present same to the government for recognition as against the government’s intervention.
According to him, the community which was created in 1978 and since remained in peace, unity and tranquility was later riddled with unnecessary hullabaloo by some reactionary forces who brought pressure to bear on the Owerri North Local Government to conduct a plebiscite but who surprisingly failed to face the exercise.
“I still maintain, I do not think that it was Governor Hope Uzodimma who did this and so it is rumour because for now, nobody has asked me to return or drop my staff of office, no statement or press release on this.
Insisting that he is the bonifde traditional ruler, Boniface Iheanacho Ariri who reacted to the tensed situation in the community said “I am the Eze Udo IV of this community known as Obibi Uratta. Since four years, I have been the Eze-elect but I only recovered a Certificate of recognition last Friday (4th February, 2022) from the state government”.
Ariri explained that the former traditional ruler of the community, HRH Pius Ukaga died in March 2016 and was buried the next month which provoked a mourning process by the indigenes.
According to him, a situation like that authorized the Regency council to take over the administration of the community for continued sustenance of peace and unity among the people after which they would now select a new monarch and present him to the appropriate government institutions for recognition.
Ariri explained further that why the mourning period of Ukaga lasted, his opponent, Amaobi Uwaleke dramatically installed himself as the Eze Udo IV, an act he said is an abomination in the community.
This, he said, constrained the regency council to alert the state government about the untoward situation.
Ariri, said that at the expiration of the one-year mourning period the community informed the state government of her readiness to select a new monarch and a regency council communicated his village-Umuorii to select its own candidate for the stool.
“They gave us three months to do this which terminated in August 2017 and upon a directive for all the villages to send their credible delegates Umuori he said forwarded 40 names, Umuobaa gave 60 names and Okwu 40 with three government officials involved in the exercise.
He described the election which brought him up as Eze as free and fair adding that he scored 109 votes to beat the other contestants. Ariri accused Amaobi of operating with the old constitution of the community fashioned in 1978 instead of the one amended in 2016,
On why it took too long for his recognition, Ariri attributed this to rampant tampering and missing of relevant documents by his detractors.
He however appealed to the community to remain calm and peaceful and enjoined his opponent and his followers to join hands with him to move the community forward.
Meanwhile, the community is tensed up with each group spoiling for war.
Efforts to reach the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Ruby Emele yielded no result as she could neither pick her calls nor respond to the text message to her.
THE NATION
