By Tony Okafor, Awka
Igwe Chijioke Nwankwo of Nawfia in the Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State, has appealed to the Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, to call his Deputy Chief Of Staff/State Chief of Protocol, Mr Chinedu Nwoye (Glamour) and the Transition Committee Chairman of Njikoka Local Government, Mr Clement Aguiyi, to order over their obviously meddlesome roles in the Nawfia traditional stool.
Igwe Nwankwo made the appeal on Saturday at a press conference in his palace in Nawfia.
He said Glamour and Aguiyi were two Government officials fueling the Nawfia traditional stool crisis by their implied and express support of Chief Ogochukwu Daniel Obelle who recently began to parade as the traditional ruler of the community despite a court order stopping him to so do.
He said the tacit consent accorded to Chief Obele by the two government officials ( Glamour and Aguiyi) had emboldened and given him( Obelle) the effrontery to always disobey constituted authorities with the make-believe that the state government was fully behind him in his claim of Nawfia Igweship.
Igwe Nwankwo cited a recent case of Obelle’s purported celebration of New Yam Festival of Nawfia on 22nd September,2023 where Glamour attended and took photographs with him(Obelle),apparently to patent the function, contrary to a public service announcement on radio stations by the Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Community Matters, Tonycollins Nwabunwanne, during Obelle’s new yam festival, stating that the Anambra State government position on the Nawfia impasse was that the community had no traditional ruler at the moment pending the determination of their case in that respect in court.
Igwe Nwankwo further said the Njikoka Local Government TC Chairman, Clement Aguiyi, also jettisoned both the court and state government directives by expressly recognizing Obelle in writing as the traditional ruler of Nawfia during Obelle’s New Yam festival on September 22,2023.
Aguiyi’s letter recognizing Obelle as the Nawfia monarch reads : “Anambra State Local Government System. His Royal Highness. Igwe Sir(Dr) Ogochukwu Daniel Obelle. Ezeudo Na Nawfia. Felicitations.
“The Transition Chairman Njikoka Local Government Council and the entire people of Njikoka heartily felicitate with HRH Igwe,Sir ( Dr) Ogochukwu Daniel Obelle, MNI Ezeudo Na Nawfia on the occasion of Nawfia New Yam Festival( Iwaji 2023) celebration.
“It is indeed our pleasure to identify with you at the epoch making event. We pray God to bless and reward Ezeudo Na Nawfia and the good people of Nawfia. Congratulations. Aguyi C.O ESQ Transition Committee Chairman”.
Describing the support of the two Government officials( Glamour and Aguiyi) as an affront on the rule of law, Igwe Nwankwo begged the state governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, to call them to order as their actions were capable to cause breakdown of law and order in Nawfia.
Describing Soludo as a man of letters and respecter of the rule of law, Igwe Nwankwo said the actions of Glamour and Aguiyi, if not checkmated ,were capable of giving wrong signals to the public about Soludo’s Government.
On the tantrums threw on his personality by Chief Obelle during his September 22 New Yam Festival press conference, Igwe Nwankwo said it would be indecorous of him to start replying such abuses, stressing that Obelle, like any other Nawfia citizen, would remain his cherished kinsman despite the current conflict about the traditional stool of the community.
He said he had superintended the affairs of Nawfia as its monarch for over 20 years and represented Njikoka LGA as well as Anambra State in that capacity in various occasions,and so his competencies as a monarch were not in doubt.
Recall that Igwe Chijioke Nwankwo was among the 12 traditional rulers suspended by the immediate past governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano for visiting former President Muhammadu Buhari for an undisclosed purpose.
Within the pendency of Igwe Nwankwo’s suspension, Obiano crowned Chief Obelle as the monarch of Nawfia.
Igwe Nwankwo had to challenge that action in Court wherein Justice Peace Otti of the State High Court, Awka Judicial Division had on June 21, 2022, made an order stopping Chief Obelle from parading himself as the traditional ruler of Nawfia.
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