Alex Mbata Reportedly Blocks Entry And Exit Points Of Ngwoma Obube With Caterpillars, Hires Armed Policemen To Teargas And Prevent People From Welcoming Ngwoma-obube Crown Prince, Kemakolam Onukogu On Return From The Us
The last has not been heard about the looming crisis and turbulence that has engulfed hitherto peaceful town of Ngwoma-Obube Autonomous Community of Owerri North Local Government Area of Imo State following fallouts from the Ezeship succession dispute that ensued between Onukogu Royal family who are laying claim to their hereditary Ezeship succession rights and one Chinedu Ekeocha, an alleged Stranger element being sponsored by Mr Alex Mbata, since the passage of the immediate past Traditional Ruler,His Royal Highness, Eze Dr Andrew Igbozurike Onukogu.
The raging imbroglio took a sudden twist and dangerous dimension penultimate Wednesday,30th July,2025 when the quiet town of Ngwoma-Obube woke up to witness the rude shock of being held hostage and prevented from going in and coming out from the Community by armed policemen hired by Mr Alex Mbata,a prominent indigene of the Area who has vowed to truncate the existing hereditary Ezeship succession arrangement of the community under direct order of premogniture by the Onukogu Royal family.
Eye witness accounts disclosed that there was pandemonium and stampede within the Onukogu Royal family where the armed policemen who were at the instance of Alex Mbata were forcefully dispersing people who had earlier gathered at the Royal palace to warmly welcome the Crown Prince and Eze Elect of Ngwoma-Obube Ancient Kingdom/ Autonomous Community, Prince Kemakolam Onukogu who returned from the United States of America to commence the traditional and customary rituals associated with his status as heir apparent to the Royal throne of his forefathers before his subsequent installation in line with protocols of the Ancient Kingdom.
According to reports from newsmen who were also stopped from performing their duties,the entire entry and exit roads within the Community were blocked with NDDC Caterpillars and trucks so that guests coming from outside and indigenes intending to visit the palace to receive Crown Prince Kemakolam Onukogu were obstructed from doing that.
The hostility attained crescendo when armed policemen left the palace to invade the private residence of 87 years old Professor I.B Onukogu to teargas the University of Nigeria Nsukka emeritus Professor of Statistics, members of his family, some guests and indigenes that were gathered in his house.
It was reported that the Crown Prince,who was heading to the palace was also blocked from accessing his Father’s palace where people had gathered to welcome him back from the United States of America.He was said to have broken protocols and entered the Community through narrow pathways but was rudely shocked that the Armed Police men at his Father’s Palace refused him access to the palace to visit his late Father graveside and to also commune with his teeming subjects who had suffered humiliation in the hands of men of the Nigerian Police force.
The man behind the turbulence,Alex Mbata,a stranger- element had boasted earlier in the year, during the one year burial Anniversary of the late King that he will use his wealth and connections with the Governor of Imo State to install one Chinedu Ekeocha who is also a stranger- element like him from Amafor Village.
This threat has been followed up with series of surreptitious and inappropriate actions traced to Mr Mbata which includes,forging and depositing a fake Constitution in the file of the Community in the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, bearing Ezeship rotational clause which neither exists Constitutionally nor customarily in Community’s Ezeship succession protocols.Indeed, the leaders of the town Union and elders had already refuted the claim saying that the Community has no Constitution and doesn’t rotate it’s Royal stool which according to them remains the hereditary right of Onukogu Royal family.
Another cited aberration was how Mbata singlehandedly appointed some of his supporters as Nde Oha who have been in his payroll and were deployed to execute a phantom and illegal plebiscite which they claimed to have produced his puppet and imposter Eze-Elect Chinedu Ekeocha.It was also alleged that he tried to thwart the election of the Community’s President General when the tenure of his brother expired by bringing policemen to arrest Community elders and leaders in the process.
However , despite the insistence of the community and eventual emergence of Mr Mr Ephraim Anuforo as their authentic President General,Mr Mbata has continued to parade one Mr Power Akwazie as a fake President -General.
According to the indigenes of the Area who are disappointed with his actions, the man Mbata has tarred roads in the Community as an illustrious son but has continued to torment them with maltreatment and uncouth actions that have literally turned the hitherto peaceful community to a war zone.His temperament and outright show of disrespect to the people according to them, especially elders and leaders of Community is causing ripples and highly regrettable.
Mbata has been described by his people as a man whose sudden wealth has turned to a Nebuchadnezzar having lost touch with realities and can’t reason or behave normal again.It is alleged that everything he does presently since he amassed his sudden wealth is premised on his wild convictions that with his deep pocket he can do and undo and nothing will happen.