Community leaders, village heads at war over Ogah, Ikpeazu

The crisis over the governorship seat in Abia State has assumed a new dimension, as it seems to have pitched traditional title holders and elders in the state against one another. Some community leaders, titled chiefs and village heads in the state have dissociated themselves from the position of a group known as Concerned Elders of Abia State.

The community leaders, titled chiefs and village heads assert that the elders led by a former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara and a former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Chief Onyeama Ugochukwu, cannot speak for Abians.

The community leaders, village heads and titled chiefs, while backing the a governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state, Uche Ogah, said the members of the elders forum are those who have contributed to the stunted growth of Abia State. The community leaders and titled chiefs from different towns in the state stated this at Ogah’s Campaign Office in Umuahia on Wednesday.

A nine point communiqué issued at the end of the meeting and read by the Traditional Prime Minister of Ibeku Kingdom, Chief Uche Akwukwuegbe, said the masses of Abia State “are yearning” for Ogah, contrary to the impression given by the Concerned Elders Forum.

They also urged members of the public to disregard the position of the Concerned Elders Forum. It would be recalled that the Concerned Elders Forum of Abia State, had, after a meeting in Abuja on Monday, declared their support for Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, while the judgment of an Abuja Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Okon Abang, sacked Ikpeazu from office.

The meeting involved serving senators from the state, including former governor Theodore Orji, (Abia Central,) Mao Ohuabunwa, (Abia North) and Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South), Wabara, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, Empire Kanu, Ugochukwu, HRH Eze Ngozi  Nwoko, Prof. S. O. Igwe, Uzoma Nkem Abonta, Prof. Herbert O. Orji, HRH Eze J. O. Akaliro, HRH Eze Dr. Eberechi Dick; and HRH Eze P. M. Okponku, among others.