There is tension in Alor community, Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State, following the alleged refusal of the traditional ruler, Anthony Elibe Okonkwo to vacate office after his sacking by the state High Court.
The administrative judge of the Anambra State High Court, Ogidi Judicial Division, Justice Pete Obiorah had, in February 2022, dethroned the monarch.
Since his dethronement, Okonkwo had allegedly refused to vacate the throne, five months after, prompting the community to slam a notice of consequences of disobedience of court order (Form 48), based on the judgment of the court.
Already, the Alor community has elected Igwe Collins Ebelechukwu Chukwumesili as the new monarch, while waiting for his recognition from the government.
As a result of this, youths of the community have threatened disturbances if the dethroned monarch failed to vacate the office with immediate effect.
The President-General of Alor Peoples Convention (APC), Chief Uzoma Igbonwa, who filed the Form 48, noted that the contemnor, Okonkwo, had continued to parade himself as the Igwe of Alor community in breach of the subsisting court order/judgment.
Igbonwa maintained that a new monarch had been elected by the community, in the person of Ebelechukwu Chukwumesili.
He explained that the dethroned monarch told a gathering recently that he was still the Igwe of Alor because he filed an appeal against his dethronement, adding that he also filed a stay of execution.
Igbonwa argued that even if Okonkwo filed a stay of execution which had not yet been determined, his actions indicated that he had been acting in breach of the court order, hence the Form 48.
In suit no. HID/354/2019, the plaintiffs, Frank Nwabufo Okoye, Ifenna Okafor and Igwe Mac-Anthony Okonkwo were seeking the court’s protection and stoppage of the defendants, Incorporated Trustees of Alor Peoples Assembly (APA) and Chief Uzoma Igbonwa, from dethroning him as the Igwe of Alor. But Justice Obiorah rather, dethroned Okonkwo in his 17- paragraph judgment order.
According to Justice Obiorah in paragraph 14 of the judgment, “I grant an order that the certificate of recognition issued to Okonkwo as Igwe of Alor by the state government on June 23, 2014 is in breach of the Constitution of Alor People’s Convention, then in force and Anambra State Government Traditional Rulers Law, 2007”.
In paragraph 15 , “I grant an order of perpetual injunction restraining Okonkwo from further parading himself as the Igwe of Alor, carrying on any function(s) and/or duties of Igwe of Alor, occupying or using the palace of Obi Eze-Agbudugbu and generally from intermeddling in the various customs and practices, as well as administrative affairs of Alor town.”
One of the community leaders, Mr Christian Okudo, insisted that Okonkwo remained the traditional ruler of the community.
Okudo said the judgment had been appealed by the dethroned monarch through his counsel, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu at the Appeal Court in Awka.
“They should wait for the appeal. The status quo should be maintained for now, until after the appeal,” Okudo said.
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The PDP spokesman recalled how the opposition party had on various occasions alerted that the APC government had ceded sovereignty over a large portion of our country to terrorists, “many of whom were imported into our country by the APC.”
He further stated: “From the video, in a brazen manner, terrorists as non-state actors boldly showed their faces, boasting, admitting and confirming their participation in the Kuje Prison break, some of whom were former prison inmates who were either jailed or awaiting trial for their previous terrorism act against our country.
“Nigerians can equally recall the confession by the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai that the APC government knows the plans and whereabouts of the terrorists but failed to act.
According to Ologunagba, about 18,000 Nigerians have been killed by terrorists between 2020 and 2022 “as the criminals continue to be emboldened by the failures and obvious complicity of the APC and to which the PDP had always drawn attention.”
“This is not politics; this is about humanity and leadership, which leadership sadly and unfortunately is missing in our country at this time,” he said.
The PDP added that it is appalled by “the lame response by the apparently helpless, clueless and deflated Buhari Presidency, wherein it told an agonizing nation that President Buhari “has done all and even more than what was expected of him as Commander in Chief by way of morale, material and equipment support to the military…”
“This is a direct admission of incapacity and failure by the Buhari Presidency and the APC. At such a time, in other climes, the President directly leads the charge and takes drastic measures to rescue and protect his citizens.
“In time of adversity, the President transmutes into Consoler-in-Chief to give hope and succour to the citizens. Painfully, Nigeria does not have a President who cares and can stand as Consoler-in-Chief to the citizens.
“It has now become very imperative for Nigerians to take note and realize that the only solution to this unfortunate situation is to hold the APC government accountable. We must come together as a people, irrespective of our political, ethnic and religious affiliations to resist the fascist-leaning tendencies of the APC administration.
Ologunagba called for an urgent meeting of the National Council of State to advise on the way to go over the nation’s worsening insecurity.
“Our nation must not fall. The resilient Nigerian spirit and ‘can-do- attitude’ must be rekindled by all to prevail on the President to immediately and without further delay, accede to the demand by the PDP and other well-meaning Nigerians to convene a special session of the National Council of State to find a lasting solution since the President has, in his own admission, come to his wit’s end,” the PDP spokesman declared.
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