Prince Afamefuna Umezoke (Ezike Obiadada) has been crowned Igwe Ohazurume 1 of Amichi who is purportedly the new traditional ruler of the community, ANAMBRA PEOPLE reports.
The event which took place at the premises of Amichi town hall was graced by Elder Alphonsus Ezeokenwa; Chief Chiedozie Ezeoke; President-General of Amichi community, Chief Cletus Udegbuana; his Vice, Dr Jeff Okeke, other members of Amichi Development Union (ADU); Rev Fr Ferdinand Ume-Ezeoke, among other members of the community.
Addressing the journalists, Dr Jeff Okeke said for long that Amichi community had been in crisis, claiming that a factional group in Amichi crowned HRH Dr Ofobuike Ezeoke the traditional ruler of Amichi.
“Igwe Ohazurume 1 of Amichi, Afamefuna Umezoke is the new Igwe of Amichi. He is the one generally accepted by Amichi. All the Obis of Amichi are here today for the coronation.
“We want an Igwe that will be with us to take care of our traditional issues, ” Okeke said.
He named the four quarters of Opkala; Ezeudene; Afube and Ebenasa who he said were in support of the development.
Elder Ezeokenwa said that they all agreed to crown Prince Afamefuna as the new Igwe of Amichi. Chief Chiedozie on his part said all the descendants of Umeohimiri alive agreed to the event.
“We have advised him ( referring to HRH Dr Ofobuike Ezeoke) to return home from overseas, he cannot preside over the affairs of his subjects from overseas but he refused, ” he said.
He added that they wrote to Amichi town union to nominate another candidate for Igwe based on their traditional right to do so. He said that was what produced Prince Afamefuna as the new traditional ruler.
In his statement, Prince Afamefuna said it was the resolution of Amichi people to make him Igwe because he would always be around.
Reacting in a press conference, however, Igwe Dr Ofobuike Alphonsus Ezeoke, (Igwe Eneke Amichi), yesterday, said that there was no division, no vacancy and no contest for the traditional stool of Amichi.
He also said that he was not aware of the enthronement of another traditional ruler to take over from him. He explained that Amichi rulership, chieftainship or traditional stool ascension was based on primogeniture which he said spanned from the fore fathers to him, the present occupier of the throne.
He added that it was not something somebody could take through coup, brute force, or through the courts, warning that anybody involved in unnecessary contest to dethrone him is challenging and evoking the wrath of the gods of the land and must be ready to face the consequences of their action.
At the press conference in his palace at Amichi, Igwe Ezeoke, a legal practitioner dismissed the purported enthronement of his cousin as the new traditional ruler in the community, describing it as exercise in futility.
He added that such was not in Anambra State traditional law. He said he would not honour anybody with legal action. He insisted that what they were doing were efforts in futility.
Igwe Ezeoke dismissed the claims that he was far from his subjects, saying that he had long relocated to Nigeria and Anambra State in particular. He said that he only visited United States of America to see his family and also tidy up some legal activities that could not be delegated to his workers, as also, according to him, applied here in Nigeria in his legal firm.
He revealed that he spent eight months in Amichi out of twelve months of the year, every year. He said it was easy to do his law practice in US through Zoom here in Nigeria.
“Some people attempted a coup against my stool, yes basically it was an attempted coup. A coup is a take over of a government by force. That was what they did and failed and coup in Nigeria is against the law.
“I heard what every other person heard, just like you heard that some people in the community crowned another Igwe, to me it is a laughable thing that does not deserve any attention because doing that will be dignifying illegality. I can’t explain whatever it was that they did, but what is clear is that Amichi has only one traditional ruler who is His Royal Highness Igwe Dr Barr. Ofobuike Alphonsus Ezeoke, (Igwe Eneke Amichi).
“As far as I know, trying to illegally remove the traditional ruler or enthroning another one to force him out of office is not obtainable in Anambra State, otherwise other towns will be doing it. Somebody can’t just get up and say I have been crowned and now the Igwe of whatever community, the person or group are only inviting crisis if they do that.
“The result of such unlawful action from the perpetrators is, beginning an unnecessary rift in the community because people will start pitching tent with one party or the other and what ends up happening is fragmentation of the town, which does not benefit the perpetrators and his supporters, the community or the sitting traditional ruler.
“One thing that is clear is that Amichi rulership or traditions stool ascension is based on primogeniture, from your fore fathers before it gets to you and I can trace it back before it got to me. I can trace it from Ezikeoliaku who was the first son of Obiagu, he ruled until his death, and his son Umennuihe took over and ruled until his death,when his first son Ezeoke took over and ruled until his demise, when his son Umeohimili took over and ruled until his death, when his first son, my father Alphonsus Umennanyelugo took over and after the death of my father I took over as his first son, so there is clearly no contest to the throne.
“I was already a practicing lawyer in United State of America when Amichi community selected me to succeed my late father, who died in 1979 and I have been on this throne for 18 years now, I am the custodian of the Ofo of Amichi, (Symbol of Authority) nobody can just come and say he wants it from me, or to take it from me, nobody can do that.
“I also have the Certificate of Recognition from Anambra State government, there is no other place in Amichi that you can trace the history and say this people were the Obi or Igwe at a certain time so nobody can take it away from me, I did not crown myself, the community crowned me. And they all agreed that nobody must kick against this procedure that started long time ago.
“I’m the chasee not the chaser. There is no division in Amichi, no contest and no vacancy to the throne of the traditional stool of the Igwe of Amichi, no contest at all. Somebody just wake up and say that he is the Governor of Anambra State, but as far as we know and as far as the election was conducted, Prof. Charles Soludo, is the Governor of Anambra State, you can say that you are forming your own State and you are running it, if he likes he can respond to that, if he does not like, he leaves you to be misbehaving, but when the Federal Government comes, they will go to Prof. Soludo, the recognized Governor of the State not the impostor governor, so that is just how it is here.
“Amichi Obiship or Igweship is not determined by a group of people that says we don’t like the face of the person on the throne, and we want another person, it is based on stipulated tradition, so the few individuals who purportedly engaged in that shameful journey of enthroning a new Igwe are wasting their time, I can’t honour them with any engagement or court action, I won’t even arrest them with Police or any law enforcement agency, they will answer to the gods of the land, ” he concluded.
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