A communal crisis is looming at Isiagu Akpawfu autonomous community in Nkanu East local government area of Enugu State over alleged moves by some people to impose the chieftaincy stool of the community without election.
Investigation revealed that the Igweship tussle is currently pending before the Court of Appeal but one Prince Tony Okoye has already been given Certificate of Return, a development that did not go down well with majority of the natives of the community.
Addressing journalists on the development at the weekend, one of the contestants to the Igweship stool, Chief James Ede Ogbu said he was disqualified on the grounds that he was not a native of the autonomous community, an allegation he described as laughable.
“I’m from Obodo Onovo Nwowo and it is gazetted. Telling me that I’m not from the autonomous community made me to ask why this should be so,” he queried.
He said the purported omission of his family name in the community was deliberate and a conspiracy aimed at stopping him from participating in the Igweship election.
Ogbu stressed that the only way an Igwe can emerge according to their constitution was through election and not imposition, insisting that there was no election that led to the emergence of Prince Tony Ike Okoye.
He noted that three contestants had earlier been screened and cleared by the electoral committee but he was surprised when Okoye went to obtain an injunction that stopped the process.
Ogbu stated that he appealed against the judgment swiftly to correct the impression that he was not a citizen of the community.
He averred that he was surprised that while the case was still pending before the court, the Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy Matters and Rural Development, Okey Ogbodo, recognised Okoye as the traditional ruler of their community on April 26, 2025 without conducting an election.
He therefore appealed to Governor Peter Mbah to wade into the matter because he felt cheated and oppressed.
Corroborating Ogbu, the assistant secretary of the town union of the autonomous community, Ede Stephen, said the purported claim that Ogbu is not from the community is a lie and appealed to the governor to come to their rescue on the matter.
“I’m saying this because conscience is an open wound that only truth can heal. We do not want the government to recognise anybody as Igwe for now. We have not gotten any Igwe; we want to choose our Igwe through an election,” he stated.