The people of Umuegwu Obiohuru autonomous community have sternly warned one Chief Emeka Ikpo to steer clear of every leadership position in the community, saying that a man who defiled the law of the land will not emerge.

Expressing their protracted grievances, the people maintained that their tradition forbids anyone found guilty of involvement in atrocious acts, thus desecrating the land, to take up the mantle of leadership as a violation of such would attract the irrevocable wrath of the gods of the land.

The entire members of the Umuegwu Obiohuru autonomous community in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, amidst dismay, unanimously warned Chief Emeka Ikpo to desist from parading himself as the village head of Umuokoroala village in Umuegwu Obiohuru Afugiri Autonomous community, saying Chief Onyenonachi Sunday is the authentic village head.

An anonymous source told famousreporters.com over the week, that the community had been in chaos consequent on the extant power tussle on who takes up the mantle of leadership as the village head of the community is 0 kin.

Reportedly, the village head position is rotational among the three kindreds that make up Umuokoroala, namely:
Umuokoro; Umuejibeme and Umuecheagha kindreds.

It was also reliably gathered that it was the turn of Umuejibeme to produce the next village head, hence the emergence of Chief Onyenonachi Sunday who, according to some community members, was democratically elected.

However, the said Chukwuemeka Ikpo was in a letter jointly signed by Chief Anthony O. Meribe; Apostle Onuoha and Rev. Leo Asiegbu and Dr. Friday Adiele of Umuokoro and Umuejeibeme kindreds, respectively, addressed the Honourable Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, dated August 20, 2024, the community, accused of disrupting the existing peace of the community through an act of impersonation.

The people in the letter dated August 20, 2024, decried the distortion of the peace of the land by the Chukwuemeka Ikpo, who was accused of desecrating the land, thereby committing incest with his biological sister, an escaped which resulted in pregnancy and also raping a minor in the late eighties and early nineties, respectively.

In another development, the same Ikpo was accused of deliberately damaging the milling machine of one of the community members, a heinous act perceived as abominable and an aberration of Ohuhu’s culture and traditions.

While recognizing the positive impacts of the traditional ruler, Eze Charles Chionye Ngwuli, the Egwu ii of Umuegwu Obiohuru Afugiri Autonomous community, pointed out that the people insisted that Chukwuemeka Ikpo did not qualify for a leadership position in the community giving his sacrilegious antecedents.

The letter read in part:

“Umuokoroala Obiohuru is an extension village of the Umuokoroala community her ancestral home located in Umuegwu Okpuala Afugiri in Ohuhu, Umuahia-North LGA, Abia State. The village has existed in the new-found land (Obiohuru) for close to 500 years. From the origin, her two major Kindreds are Umuokoro and Umejeibeme. However, other alien groups and individual persons have continued to arrive at the village and are being allowed to settle as useful adjuncts to boost the population.

Continuing, the letter stated:
“Over time these alien components have gained population ascendancy for which they later became very arrogant and quite determined to overthrow the existing system of relationships in Umuokoroala. In 1976 these satellite groups in Umuokoroala Obiohuru merged into a strong union, adopting the invented name “Umuecheagha” in fulfillment of their desire to have one larger group identity, and for attainment of a status of third major kindred in Umuokoroala, and thus marking the full and final stage of their full integration into the Umuokoroala Obiohuru village. It is worth noting that Umuokoro and Umuejeibeme, the two old kindreds of Umuokoroala, did not object to this integration. In 1982, the Umuecheagha’s possessive long planned long planned revolution started in earnest.

“They became real trouble makers, having been trying to forcefully stampede the Umuokoro and Umuejeibeme into accepting the claim of the newly created Umuecheagha as a superior kindred entitled to exercise a firstborn right. Umuokoroala has not known peace since the newly created kindred came into existence in 1976, and Umuecheagha has consistently been rejecting every verdict passed by the various groups that intervened to settle the dispute at different times and fora, though the peace talks ended with surprising co-incidence of similar verdict emerging from all.”

“Uprightness and sound morals are some of the necessary attributes that single out an individual as a ready-made choice to occupy a vacant leadership position in a community, especially in times of conflict. Agreeing on these principles, we are left with no choice but to briefly x-ray here the man, Chief Emeka Ikpo, the best choice of Umuecheagha kindred to fill the then vacuum for the position of a village head for Umuokoroala Obiohuru: What with a crime of (1) pouring a cup of table salt into the tank of a brand new petrol engine to effect an engine knock, and another crime later by the same Emeka Ikpo, (2) incest/rape of an under-age girl in the late eighties and early nineties respectively, all of which we regret to have to recall here with no fear of contradiction. To further keep the records straight, on No. (1) above (in the eighties), Emeka Ikpo, who had been lying later, voluntarily made an open confession only on the eve of the day an invited juju priest was to administer an oath. On No. (2) above rape/incest (in the nineties), he was found guilty by the elders of the village at an Amala gathering in the village square. And for both these abominable acts and infringement against the taboos of our land Emeka Ikpo paid huge fines and went through the rigor of procuring the items of abomination for appeasement of the gods of the land.

“When the tussle of the village head position started recently in Umuokoroala, the Umuecheagha, for fear of the stinking antecedent trailing Emeka Ikpo’s track record as an obvious impediment of their perverted quest for the village head position, and being also aware that only a person with a chieftaincy title could become a village head, they totally avoided the Umuegwu Obiohuru Eze and his cabinet, and went all the way to Ekeokwuru, a distant community, and from there, Emeka Ikpo surreptitiously got a chieftaincy title. After all their unholy intrigues had played out, they started the futile campaign of trying to give Emeka Ikpo hoax publicity as a newly elected village head. There is a popular adage that says “You cannot be a captain of your future if you are captive of your past.

They, therefore, urged the Honourable Commissioner to use his good office to intervene in the subsisting fracas in the community.

Among their pleas were:

• To allow the peace effort and resolutions of the mediating third parties to count in resolving a minor issue that has put Umuokoroala in bondage over the years.
• To stop their desperado escapades in wanting to perfect and perpetuate their kindred’s policy on power dominance and mob rule in Umuokoroala.
• To refrain from their vow to force the Umuokoro and Umuejeibeme (the old kindreds) to accept them as a superior kindred with due firstborn right in Umuokoroala, even when it is obvious that there is no basis for it. A popular scriptural advice says:

“An evil you do not do away with will do away with you.”

Reacting to the seemingly catastrophic situation, the traditional ruler, HRH, Eze Charles Chionye Ngwuli, the Egwu ii of Umuegwu Obiohuru, Afugiri Autonomous community, in a disclaimer published on August 20, 2024, described Chief Emeka Ikpo as “an imposter, while urging the general public to dissociate themselves from him.

The traditional ruler went further to state categorically that “the village head is Chief Onyenonachi Sunday”.

Meanwhile, some of the members of the community who spoke to famousreporters.com based on anonymity reiterated that the said Chukwuemeka Ikpo was indeed found guilty of desecrating the land by having canal knowledge of his biological sister and subsequently deliberately damaged the milling engine belonging to one of the community members.

An anonymous source who spoke to famousreporters.com argued that Chief Onyenonachi Sunday who was unanimously elected as the village head by Umuokoroala people under the supervision of the traditional ruler and his council members.

According to the source: “Chief Sunday was duly issued with a certificate of returns by the Eze and council members.

“One Mr. Chukwuemeka Ikpo, who hailed from Umuecheagha Kindred in Umuokoroala, sprang up from nowhere to parade himself as Umuokoroala village not considering the fact that it was not the turn of Umuecheagha to become village head. Apart from that, Mr Chukwuemeka Ikpo has committed an abomination in the past by sleeping and impregnanting his sister and using salt to knock down someone’s garri processing engine. It is taboo and unlawful by the people of Umuokoroala and the gods of the lands for such a person to be crowned a village head!”, the source thundered!