How Obiano Came To My House With Soldiers, Police To Intimidate Me – Suspended Monarch

…insists Mkpunando is not part of Aguleri community

…we dethroned Edozieuno because of his atrocities – new monarch

Raymond Ozoji, Awka

The suspended traditional ruler of Mkpunando community in Anambra-East local government area of Anambra State, Igwe Alex Edozieuno, has made shocking revelations about his alleged removal from office.

In an interview with NewsProbe, Edozieuno said, “Willie Obiano wants to prove that he is the governor. He abandoned his primary responsibility as governor and ventured into Aguleri local politics. It is not because we went to Abuja to see Mr. President that he removed me from the throne; it is because of the local politics that started in Aguleri since 1994.

“He is now using his position as governor to intimidate me. The governor has set three panels for me since this year and the three panels have conducted their investigations and did not find me wanting. So my trip to Abuja in the company of other traditional rulers became a chance for him to withdraw my certificate and give it to another person.

“He gave us suspension and I was serving my suspension; his next line of action was to withdraw my certificate from me. The governor is telling the people that Aguleri removed me from the throne but Aguleri is not my community. My community is Mkpunando.

“Due process was not observed in the withdrawal of my certificate. The governor came to my house with police and soldiers and made me sign the withdrawal of certificate under duress. I have no other option but to look up to God because they are planning on how to remove my life. He did not consult Anambra state chieftaincy law neither did he consult the constitution of Mkpunando community before compelling me to sign revocation of my certificate of recognition.

“The state traditional rulers’ council is the governor’s stooge. Whatever he wants them to say is what they say. That we have five traditional rulers in Aguleri clan doesn’t make Mkpunando community to be Aguleri. I am already in court to seek justice.”

Meanwhile, Aguleri community has declared that the revocation of certificates of kingship from the traditional rulers of Mkpunando-Otu and Ezi-Agulu-Otu was done to cleanse the land of the taboo and sacrilege committed by the dethroned monarchs.

The community held that mere suspension was not enough to make the suspended Igwes realise the folly and futility of their inordinate ambitions but outright banishment from the community and the entire state was most appropriate because their actions were typical of betrayal of trust and sabotage.

His Royal Highness Igwe Johnson Mbanefo Ezedioramma of Mkpunando-Otu Aguleri, who replaced the suspended monarch of the community Igwe Alex Edozieuno, said Aguleri community had unanimously dethroned him due to his high-handedness in office as well as his autocratic exercise of powers as traditional ruler of the community.

Mbanefo said his predecessor’s removal was not because he was amongst other traditional rulers who went to Abuja to fabricate and concoct lies against the governor before President Muhammadu Buhari but because the community could no longer contain his excesses and outright disregard for the wishes and yearnings of the people.

The new traditional ruler of Mkpunando-Otu Aguleri who spoke to NewsProbe in Aguleri also disclosed that his emergence as the traditional ruler would usher in an era of a tranquil society where everyone would offer advice and suggestions as to how Mkpunando-Otu should be governed.

Mbanefo said, “The community itself dethroned the traditional ruler sometime in September 2019. The community dethroned him because of his atrocities; his involvement in selling of community lands; converting about 4000 hectres of lands to his own; mismanagement of community choose-your-project funds and stealing of health centre generator and converting it to his personal use in his residence at Onitsha.

“The community also dethroned him for diverting compensatory money paid by Anambra state government to Mkpunando community. The dethroned traditional ruler diverted N15million Naira to his personal account and appropriated same. So the community dethroned him because of these atrocities and asked the state government to carve out another community where he would be traditional ruler and not Mkpunando community.

“I have the resolution of the community on his dethronement. When government removed him, the community went back and elected a new traditional ruler in the person of Hon. Johnson Mbanefo, my humble self. So it is the community that can dethrone their traditional ruler and not the state government. Though the state has the power to suspend a traditional ruler if found wanting.

“Igwe Alex Edozieuno is no longer representing them. He may go to court but the truth remains that Aguleri community has banished him.”

The President-General and Chief Servant of Aguleri community, Barrister Hipo Chibuzo Onwuegbuke, in his opinion noted that aside from going to President Muhammadu Buhari to lampoon the governor, the traditional rulers had committed more sins that Aguleri community could no longer tolerate.

He said that Governor Willie Obiano was lenient with his suspension order; that the only way to cleanse Aguleri land of the desecration brought upon it by the dethroned monarchs was to send them three states away from Anambra state for at least 20 years.

Onwuegbuke explained that there are three components of Aguleri community viz Ifite- Aguleri, Igboezunu-Aguleri and Ugwu-na-Adagbe-Aguleri respectively. He said it would be fallacious therefore for anyone to infer that Mkpunando was an autonomous community and not a part of the three main sections of Aguleri as claimed by the suspended traditional ruler.

According to the PG, “It would be ridiculous for someone to claim that Mkpunando is not Aguleri. It is part and parcel of Aguleri. But the truth is that the deposed igwe in question was kind of acting beyond reasonability. The people have been stomaching a lot of things but the trip to Abuja was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

“He knew what happened to him and due process was followed in his removal. The elders and the entire population of Aguleri said what they did were intolerable acts and because of that they had to strip them of all their titles. The issue of the traditional rulers’ council and the state government suspending them is quite different from what transpired in Aguleri community.

“So the governor didn’t do anything wrong. His job is to approve or not to approve depending on the outcome of investigations. There were peaceful protests in Aguleri; after which the protesters went to Awka and submitted a memo demanding the removal of the two traditional rulers. As a matter of fact, our people are even asking for their banishment. They should be banished at least for 20 years from Anambra state because they are terrible human beings.”

Efforts to get the suspended traditional ruler of Ezi-Agulu-Otu Aguleri, Igwe Peter Ikeegbunem Udoji, and his successor, Igwe Lawrence Nwofia, were unsuccessful as they did not respond to several phone calls.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*