Some village leaders at Amakor in Nanka community, Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State, have written a letter to the State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to quickly intervene on alleged marginalisation to avoid communal crises.
This was made known on Tuesday by the leadership of the village, Mr. Daniel Ilo and Mr. Walter Muoneme, who are the chairman and secretary of the community, respectively, while speaking with journalists in Awka on Tuesday, crying out that they have been marginalised from the Nnaka community in various ways, as they were denied the right to produce the Traditional Prime Minister of the community at a time when it was their turn, and also being stopped from benefiting from government interventions.
The leaders, along with other members of the village, bemoaned the ill-treatment meted out to them by the community leadership, headed by the traditional ruler and the President General of the community, Igwe Godwin Ezeilo and Mr. Ifeanyi Ezike, respectively.
In a letter addressed to Soludo and read to journalists by the assistant secretary of Amakor Njikoka Development Union, Mr. Patrick Okoli, the village said, “We do humbly bring to your (Soludo’s) attention the sundry reprehensible acts being perpetrated by Igwe Godwin Ogochukwu Ezeilo (The Traditional Ruler of Nanka), Chief Koffi Ugochukwu Obijiofor, Nanka Patriotic Union (NPU), her President-General, Mr. Ifeanyi Ezike, and a few influential indigenes of Nanka against Amakor Village.
“We write for and on behalf of Amakor village Nanka, Orumba North LGA, under the auspices of the Amakor Njikoka Development Union (ANDU).
“Going by Nanka tradition and custom and the constitution of the Nanka Patriotic Union, rights, privileges, and responsibilities are shared and taken in order of seniority amongst the seven villages that make up Nanka town.”
The protesters disclosed that Amakor, in the order of seniority, is fourth, and with the Igweship stool having moved from Enugwu village, which is the second, to Ifite, which is the third, Amakor should have produced the traditional prime minister,Onowu.
“Some rich people in Nanka, who call the shots, railroaded the Nanka Patriotic Union into shunning Amakor village and giving the Onowu to Chief Koffi Obijiofor, who is from the 5′′ village, Umudala.”
The group said it has long gone to court and obtained a judgement against the community for what it referred to as a travesty, but the community has refused to budge, hence their call to Governor Soludo to intervene.
“We are a peace-loving village, and we do not want to be involved in communal crises. That is why we are calling on Soludo to come to our aid now.
“We have other instances of marginalisation against us. The President General is threatening to remove a gate we spent N12 million to install on all the roads leading into our village to safeguard ourselves from kidnappers and armed robbers.
The COVID-19 palliative donated to our village was diverted and sold, just as the improved palm and coconut seedlings, which the state government recently distributed to all the communities in the state, were denied to the Amakor people.
“We are calling on the governor to restrain the traditional ruler of Nanka, Igwe Godwin Ezeilo, the president general of Nanka Patriotic Union, Mr. Ifeanyi Ezike, and Koffi Obijiofor, who parades himself as Onowu, to desist forthwith from such acts and also return all rights to Amakor village.”
When some journalists reached out to the president general of the community, Ifeanyi Ezike, he dispelled most of the allegations levelled against him and the monarch, describing ANDU as troublesome.
“We have not diverted any palliative meant for them. Their portion of every government grant has always been given to them. The problem is that even in their own village, they have factions.
“I have been mandated by the commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Community Matters to resolve their matter, but they did not show up. As for the Onowu contest, it is still in court.
