Elders, Town Union Leadership, Component Villages Condemn Action And Warn Against Such Sacrilege
Reaffirm That Obube Ezeship Succession Is Hereditary And Remains Hereditary Right Of Onukogu Royal Family
Tension and palpable fear has engulfed Obube Autonomous Community of Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State following altercations and fallouts from the Ezeship succession dispute in the Area which resulted in counter presentations of Eze-Elects from two opposing camps laying claim to the ancient royal throne of Ngwoma-Obube Community.
At the front burner of the raging imbroglio is what community leaders and elders condemned and described as the sacrilege of a group of alleged imposters who claimed to be Ndi Oha to have purportedly selected one Chinedu Ekeocha whom the elders referred to as a stranger element for the position of Eze-Elect of the Community and equally presenting him to the Chairman of Owerri North Local Government Area.
In his letter dated 25th of June 2025, the President General of Obube Autonomous Community,Mr Ephraim Anuforo denounced the activities of those he described as imposters and self acclaimed Ndi Oha who purportedly conducted an illegal plebiscite for the selection of Mr Chinedu Ekeocha.He also warned against the consequences of an imposter/ fake President -General, Mr Power Akwazie who allegedly claimed his position and presented the said Chinedu Ekeocha as the Eze-Elect of the Community to the Executive Chairman of Owerri North LGA.
Also in a recent publication through his interview with newsmen,a prominent indigene of Obube Autonomous Community, Chief Albert Ahanonu,known as Arufuoaku Chukwubuikem 1 of Umuchoko Obube aligned with the rest of the community in condemning the sacrilege of presenting a stranger element,Engr Chinedu Ekeocha as the Eze-Elect against the tradition of Ngwoma-Obube whose ancient royal throne is hereditary and remains in Onukogu Royal Family.
The raging imbroglio has caused members of the Community to exhume and dust the archives to provide further evidence on the ineligibility of Chinedu Ekeocha to aspire for their sacred royal stool.It was disclosed that at a time in their recent history,Chinedu Ekeocha’s father, Athanasius and his brother (Chinedu’s uncle) committed sacrilege by marrying their blood sisters from the same kindred and when the Ngwoma-Obube people summoned them to appease the gods of the land, they refused and anchored their argument on the premise of not being indigenes of the Community, insisting that their father migrated to their present abode from somewhere.The people of Ngwoma-Obube now wonder why a stranger and alien should nurse the ambition of usurping the the traditional rulership of their Ancient Kingdom and described it as a slight and desecration of their custom and tradition.
Chief Ahanonu reiterated that Ngwoma-Obube does not contest Ezeship succession as an election or plebiscite but through hereditary right of the Onukogu Royal Family which enthrones kings through direct order of premogniture.He reassured that the people of Ngwoma-Obube had already chosen and presented their Eze-Elect ,Crown Prince Kemakolam Onukogu, first son of late Eze Dr Andrew Onukogu, to the Executive Chairman of Owerri North Local Government Area on May 29th ,2025 and that it remains irrevocable and irreversible.
Also,while reacting in tandem with the position of the people of Ngwoma-Obube,the three Villages out of the six Ngwoma-Obube Autonomous Community where the purported Eze-Elect,Chinedu Ekeocha raise fake Ndi-Oha which claimed to have conducted the plebiscite for his emergence as the Eze-Elect, namely:- Umuzuru,Umuoro and Umuobashi had forwarded a disclaimer to the Community for involvement of imposters from their Villages in the alleged illegal plebiscite conducted by Amafor people that produced Chinedu Ekeocha.The three Villages maintained that the imposters never represented nor acted with their consent before carrying out such unlawful assignment.They argued that Amafor Village, the homestead of Chinedu Ekeocha can’t go home and carry out a kangaroo plebiscite in the name of Ngwoma-Obube Autonomous Community.That what allegedly happened in the name of plebiscite was entirely an Amafor people affair and not that of Ngwoma-Obube. And meanwhile Amafor is one out of the six kindreds/Villages that make up Ngwoma-Obube Autonomous Community.
Meanwhile, some prominent leaders,elders and members of the Eze-in Council have also issued a statement to disclaim the alleged illegality being perpetrated by some imposters who claimed to have the mandate of the community to conduct the said plebiscite that produced a stranger element, Engr Chinedu Ekeocha as Eze-Elect.They described Ekeocha as a stranger element who has no right to nurse such ambition and further flayed those claiming that there is a Constitution in the Community which allows the Ezeship succession to be rotatory.
According to the Elders, Ngwoma-Obube Ezeship succession is the hereditary right of Onukogu Royal Family and nobody in the community has right to aspire for it except the Onukogus.
Meanwhile, findings from the archives have revealed that the Ngwoma-Obube Royal throne was established in 1906 when the British Colonial Administrators appointed the progenitor of the Onukogu Royal family,Eze Onukogu Okeremgbere as a Warrant Chief for Ngwoma-Obube Community.He ruled and transited in 1933 and was succeeded by his first son,Eze Stephen Ejelonu Onukogu who was a Commissioner For Owerri Province in the old Eastern Region Government of Dr M.I Okpara and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe.He ruled from 1933 and died in 1978.He was said to have presided over the meetings that ensued from the agitation for the creation of Imo State right in his palace at Ngwoma-Obube.Eze S.E Onukogu was succeeded by his first son, the immediate past occupant of the throne,His Royal Highness Eze Dr Andrew Onukogu who ruled from 1979 and passed on in 2024 at the ripe age of 91 years.According to tradition, with the end of the one year mourning period, his first son, Crown Prince Kemakolam Onukogu is the only qualified person to ascend the Royal throne of Ngwoma-Obube as the heir apparent to the Ancient throne of Onukogu Royal Dynasty founded by Onukogu Okeremgbere.
It has been generally considered as an insult for anybody to ever nurse the ambition of truncating this established succession protocol which is a cruel way of inducing tension and breakdown of law and order in the Community.Already the people of Ngwoma-Obube Autonomous Community have worked in tandem with the Onukogu Royal family to adopt Crown Prince Kemakolam Onukogu as the Eze-Elect to succeed his late father and had successfully presented him to the Executive Chairman of Owerri North Local Government Area.