What you are about reading qualifies as both a documentary and an interview on the Oruku, Umuode (Enugu state-Nigeria) endless wars. Incredibly, this land war had claimed over a thousand lives since the 1970s it started, as well as property worth several millions of naira.
It has to be pointed out that the minority Umuodes had, in the course of the war, been forced into exile twice. While the Orukus maintain that the Umuodes are Awbias (strangers) to the disputed Aguefi land, the Umuodes try to disprove the Orukus.
A turning point crept into the matter when, amidst the internecine war, Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu state ordered the Orukus to, in compliance with the outcome of an inquiry he launched into the crisis, vacate the Aguefi land for the Umuodes to take possession of.
Chime’s order is in disregard of the glaring facts that, apart from the Orukus being more in number, they (Orukus) have over 500 houses in the disputed land while the Umuodes have over a hundred. From the look of things, Chime’s eviction order, rather than pouring oil on the troubled water, promises to exacerbate the crisis.
From the account of origin of Oruku community in Nkanu West council area to issues concerning decades of fractious cohabitation of the Orukus and Umuodes, Theophilus Okechukwu Adenyi, President-General of Oruku Town Union, beseeches Governor Chime not to import Israeli/Palestinian terrorist tradition into Oruku. Simply put, Oruku people accuse the governor of taking sides with the Nigeria police to drive them away from the land of their ancestors, a land that harbors their gods and goddesses, artifacts and other monuments of existence. Excerpts:
Could you give us a brief history of the Oruku community?The history of Oruku Community is like that of other communities in Igboland. We are descendants of Adam. The founder of this community is called Onaga Ifejiaba Nnamchi from Agana in Igala area. He migrated through Oturkpo to the present day Oruku. When he came here, he settled in a place called Okpuhu and lived at the bank of the Inyaba River. Then, he had two sons, Igwejike and Chiani or Ihunam. The children procreated and got about 18 other children.
Any specific dates in this account of origin? This is pre-colonial history. Any history given to you (with dates) is usually from when the Whiteman came. We have lived here for between 500 and 600 years before the coming of the Whiteman.
But our ancestors were able to trace their ancestry to the man Onaga Ifejiaba Nnamchi. They lived at Okpuhu and narrated the story to the Whitemen when they came. Ihunam or Umuchiani occupied the right hand side of the Inyaba River while Igwejike occupied the left hand side at Okpuhu.
Ihuam or Umuchiani lived very close to Amagunze while Igwejike lived and backed the Nike end.
Oruku people lived there for hundreds of years until one incident happened. That incident happened around the middle of the 18th century. Because our people were hospitable, a man called Uzu Nwaonovo Ani, a notorious criminal from Amagunze took asylum in Oruku and was given refuge by one Eze Nwokenwa Edenwachi from Ihunam or Umuchiani quarters.
After he was given asylum, he continued his notorious activities and at a stage he went and stole a cow belonging to somebody and, as a result of that, there was a problem between the people and the man himself. Before Oruku people would know what happened, the man ran away. On running away for his life, as we were told, he met slave hunters outside Oruku around Abakaliki area where he wanted to run to.
Unfortunately, the slave hunters got him and sold him to slavery to one Nwiboko in Abakaliki. Amagunze people later demanded for him. They wanted the man alive. Our people narrated the entire incident to them. They said okay. There was a kind of peace meeting between Oruku and Amagunze to discuss and settle the matter. When our people went to Amagunze for the talk, which was held two or three times, on the fourth time, not knowing that Amagunze people had plotted to carry out revenge attack, they arrested Eze Nwokenwa Edenwachi, the leader of the delegation and abducted him and eventually stabbed him to death.
Oruku fought gallantly and were able to retrieve the body. The development caused a war between Oruku and Amagunze. It was a fierce war which Amagunze, Oruku and another community – Akpofu, continue to regret to this day because the death toll was very high. When the war was on, Akpofu people, one of our neighboring communities, came and requested for a cow from Oruku so that they would fight on our side. Our people said no, that they would not want to draw them into the problem.
Unfortunately, the same people went to Amagunze and requested and got a cow. Then Amagunze and Akpofu people joined hands and fought Oruku. They were doing this together with Amaechi Idodo. They had an alliance with them. They attacked Oruku people from all fronts.
We were fighting with Amagunze at the southern end of the land; Akpofu people attacked us from the northern end. So, it was a fierce battle at the end of which the survivors scattered to other communities for safety.
Oruku people, after meeting to decide their future, decided to relocate to this place. This is not Okpuhu. Okpuhu is between here and Amagunze. The other thing is that, when the war was on, some of our people ran to Amaechi Idodo to seek refuge.
Unfortunately, over 600 Oruku people mainly from Igwejike quarters were killed by Amechi Idodo people who were supposed to give them shelter. Their reasons are best known to them. The few who survived are known as Umu Onuma Ezeigbo, Umu Unaa etc in Amaechi Idodo today.
The remnants who survived it have families synonymous with families we have here. When we were at Okpuhu, Igwejike was the eldest son of Onaga Ifejaba Nnamchi. Then, at a stage, the man who handled the ‘Ofor’, the symbol of authority and our existence had no son and so, when he was sick, he transferred the ‘Ofor’ to one of his sons-in-laws from Umuchiani. He blessed the ‘Ofor’ so that it will not go into extinction. That was how Umuchiani became the holder of the ‘Ofor’ and the eldership was transferred to them.
You mean Umuchiani became seniors in Oruku?Yes. In Umuchiani, we have 12 families. The eldest man or family in Umuchiani is Ekpa Anichiani followed by Ogbu Anichiani, Chinjoku and Onuma Chiani or Onuma Eze. The later had two sons namely: Ede Ekpaeze and Chiekpa Eze. Chiekpa Eze had four sons, Okenwa Edenwachi, Orji Nwede Nwachi, Nnamede Nwachi and Eze Nwachi. Other sons or families of Chiani are Umuekee, Umu Owene, Umu Omee and Umu Echiku bringing the number to 12 families. Then in Igwejike quarters, you have Ujoreji, Umu Nshiuba, Umuchieze, Umu Anegu Nohe, Umuokenwa Onuma and Umu Agubata.
These are the families that make up Oruku then. Later, we had another group of people, ‘the Umuodes’ who came here and were integrated as a political unit or clan in Oruku in the year 1948 during the reign of late Igwe Okenwa Adenyi (he reined from 1928 to1958) as the Warrant Chief of Oruku community. Prior to that, Umuode, to be frank, came through slavery. At Okpuhu, there was no Umuode man that lived with them. None!
Not even a single soul because when we lived there, there was nothing like slavery in Oruku then. It was after the war when our people relocated to this place that most of these people started arriving. They were regarded as serfs to our people who became their lords and masters.
Then, they were in the service of Oruku people. One good thing was that the Orukus never use(d) any Umuode man or slave for ritual as done in other communities. It is an abomination for any Oruku man to kill anybody within this land even at Okpuhu. We do not kill ourselves under any guise.
When Umuode started arriving, as a result of their evolution, they started serving some Oruku chiefs. At Okpuhu, we had some notable chiefs like – Okenwa Edenwachi, Orji Nwede Nwachi, Ogbede Nnaji, Mba Nwogbu, Uzoabene, Nnaji Nwene Egbo among others. They were our ancestors from Okpuhu.
But how did you come by this level of information?This information was passed down to me by my father. These men are among the original Oruku people. others include Abaa Onovo, Nwatu Ogbu, Ani Nwomiyi, Orji Nweze, Nnaji Nwanamani, Ogbu Nwede, Ogbede Orji, Inyaba Nwaegbo and so on. There are others I cannot remember but, then, Okenwa Edenwachi was regarded as one of the mouthpiece of the people at Okpuhu. The second version of our history started after the Okpuhu problem and before then, we had customs at Okpuhu, we have what we call Ani-Oruku, the gods of the land, the chief of all the gods. The people who take care of the shrine of these chief gods are the Umuigwejike – the first son of Onaga Ifejiaba Nnamchi.
Among the Umuigwejike, the particular family that handles this is Umu Ujoreji and later it was transferred to Umuagubata from the same Umuigwejike quarters. Umuigwejike are also referred to as Onuogowo clan.
Then, when it comes to new yam festival, there is festival known as Njoku Ji. It is the symbol of new yam festival. There is a ritual that must be performed before any Oruku man eats new yam. It is performed by three families– Umu Ujoreji, Umuchieze and Umunshiuba in Igwejike quarters. We have other shrines maintained by Umuchiani. The “Ofor tree’ is one big tree at the Eke market. It is the symbol of our unity.
Whenever we gather there, whatever is being discussed, nobody swears with the ‘Ofor’. If you do and you are lying, within four native weeks, you become a dead body. Anything that we want to settle so that there will be justice, equity and fairness; we do it under the ‘Ofor’ tree. It is maintained by a chief priest from Umuchiani. We have other shrines like the Igwekanma, This is a shrine that unites our people, Umuchiani maintains it. So our life here started when our people relocated to this place and this happened before the whitemen came. When we came to this place, our people started living their normal life as before just like other communities in Iboland.
When did Oruku have the first contact with the whitemen?The whitemen came to Oruku for the first time in 1910 and to other communities in Nkanu land. In 1914, the warrant chief system came on board. The white men appointed through the nomination of our people, the late Chief Nnamene Nwogbu as the warrant chief of Oruku and the Igwenezolu Oha of Oruku – the rain that falls and blesses the land of Oruku; that is the meaning. This main road that leads to Akpoaga to Emene was first developed by him.
He died in 1918. Ten years later, he was succeeded by Chief Okenwa Adenyi, the owner of this palace we are in now.
The Missionaries came to Oruku in 1918, through the Methodist Church then CMS but Late Warrant Chief Nnamane Nwogbu, before his death, said that he preferred the Catholic Mission then at Eke. They left for Amaechi Idodo. They could not get accommodation. They went to Agbani where they established and that is why in Nkanu today, Agbani is the centre of all Methodist Church in Nkanu land. When the Catholic Church came that same year, Chief Nnamene Nwogbu gave them accommodation in his palace. They brought a teacher who started indoctrinating our people and converting them to Christianity. The first mission school was established there. After Chief Nnamene’s death, the Catholic Church started expanding in Oruku through the blessings and assistance of Chief Okenwa Adenyi who took over the mantle of leadership of the community and later became a warrant Chief in 1928. He was the first man to own a car in Oruku. That was the old version of Volkswagen.
He gave his garage to them. Okenwa Adenyi (alias Ebiem Ede) himself was a respected man in Oruku. He was a warrior, a man of his people and was liked by Oruku people. He was wealthy and a rich farmer also. He completed the development of Oruku Akpuoga-Emene road which his predecessor started.
During harvest, all the young men and women of Oruku voluntarily go to his farm to give him assistance as he had large farms. He helped to protect Oruku people from external aggression. He single handedly protected our people from most external aggression in many occasions.
It was during the reign of Okenwa that Umuode was integrated as a political unit or clan in Oruku. Prior to that, nothing like Umuode existed as a clan here. Then during the reign of late Nnamene Nwogbu, there was a plan to relocate them to a particular virgin land but Okenwa himself, when they were discussing it, said that it will be a kind of injustice and suggested intermingling them with the other Orukus by making us to live interwoven with them.
When Nnamene Nwobgu died, Okenwa accomplished the task by organizing them as a political unit, divided them into five families namely Umuchuba, Umuode Onaga, Umuoka, Umuanegu and Umu Nnajianebu.
These are the five families of Umuode making it 23 families of Oruku. My brother, we lived together. In other communities, remnants of slavery do not have the freedom Umuode had in Oruku. They don’t do funeral ceremony in those places. In Nkanu land, nay Igboland, if you do the funeral ceremony of your father (that is the first title you take as a man) and cap it with that of your mother, and kill five domestic animals, you will be regarded as a titled man. Late Chief Okenwa Adenyi himself used his money to sponsor Umuode to get their ‘Igede’ – a chief dance in Igboland meant for big people ( like the British system for the lords and the masters) or the real indigenes. He also assisted an Umuode man, late Ogbo Anichi, to perform the funeral ceremony of his late father by donating a horse to him (the first by an Umuode man) thus paved way for the Umuodes to perform this type of ceremony in Oruku.
In every part of Nkanu land and even in Igboland, once you hear Umu Amadi or the Ikengas, it means freeborn. The meaning of Amadi is freeborn. If you hear Umuode or Umuodenigbo, it means remnants of slavery.
There was no dispute between us and Umuode in Oruku, only that Umuchiani and Umuigwejike were the progenitors and sons of the original founder of Oruku. The two belong to the Amadis or Ikengas of Oruku right from Okpuhu. We and Umuode lived as brothers. If there was any event in the community, everybody will attend. We have only one school, St. Mary’s Catholic Mission established in the year 1932, one market, one meeting point at “Nkwor” and so on. The person who presides over in every communal meeting is the eldest man in the community flanked by other elders and the warrant Chief. They rub minds together during deliberations on any matter.
There was one incident that happened between 1958 and 1959. There was what we call ‘Ode’ dance. We have it scattered in some villages. We have it in Ohuani, Ameke and Isienu and they have Umuchiani, Onuogowo and Umuode as members. In that year, Obinagu village started their own Ode Dance. There was division between Umuamadi (Umuchiani and Onuogowo) and the Umuode members over who will head the ‘Ode Dance’.
As a result of that, the community after deliberations decided that ‘the Ode Dance’ would go into extinction. Then Umuodes went and started a dance they call ‘Edesha’ while Umuamadi ( Umuchiani and Onuogowo) went and started one they call ‘Nkpakala’. That was the only dispute ever witnessed between the original founders of Oruku and Umuode, before God and man.
In Oruku today, we have seven villages including Isienu-the oldest village, Ameke, Ohuani, Obinagu, Eziobodo, Uzam and Aguikpa. These villages have boundaries that separate them. Because we live interwoven, there is no particular place or village known as Umuode or Umuchiani Onuogowo. As I am speaking to you, this compound facing us belongs to an Umuode man.
Could you marry among yourselves? I am coming to the issue of marriage. During the Civil War, an Umuode Man called Nicholas Omaba became the Sariki of Oruku. You know that wherever the Nigerian Army captured during that time, they will install a kind of chief or what they call Sariki. The person is usually one who supports them or aided their coming to that community. The man (Nicholas Omaba) was half literate. Oruku people did not raise any objection against his appointment. He Nicholas used the position to victimize our people. He killed prominent people like Nwatu Nwamushi and others. Oruku people took it as war time event.
In the year 1976, the then East Central State re-established the Chieftaincy System, majority of our people were not educated then unlike today, some people from the three clans without the approval of Oruku General Assembly prepared a chieftaincy constitution recommending rotation of chief of the community among the three clans. The constitution was used to elect Igwe Nwatu Okenwa, the third Igwe of Oruku. He contested against one Chief Ukeh Nwannamene Nwogbu, alias Njoku ji Nwonuma who was one of the greatest farmers in the community. After Okenwa’s death in 1983, the community unanimously voted to amend the constitution in 1987 just like every other constitution. At the end, merit system was enshrined in the chieftaincy constitution with some qualifications for the aspirants.
This new constitution paved way for Oruku to elect an Igwe who will be accountable to the people and not to a particular clan. This was approved by Oruku general Assembly and signed by representatives of the 23 families in Oruku comprising all the 12 families of Umuchiani, 6 families of Onuogowo, and 5 families of Umuode. Then Oruku people started searching for a credible and educated person who will be their Igwe. A retired Federal senior civil servant, who served at the Federal Polytechnics, Ado Ekiti, Chief Cornelius Nomeh, declared his interest together with one Chief Nnaji Nwobisi. No one from Umuode declared interest on the stool. On the day of the election, all the clans and their families including the Umuodes participated in the voting at the end of which Chief C A Nomeh was elected as the Igwe of Oruku.
Problem started after Chief Nomeh’s election and less than 12 hours to the day of his coronation as Igwe because Prof. Barth Nnaji who was born and brought up here but of Umuode extraction (the remnants of slavery in the community) decreed and stopped the Umuodes from attending the coronation.
As I am talking to you now, Almighty is watching me and will judge me if I am telling lies. On the night that preceded the coronation, some of our Umuode neighbours in Obinagu Village which is Igwe Nomeh’s village participated in slaughtering the cow Igwe Nomeh used for the ceremony. All of us shared on equal basis parts of the meat meant for us because in Igbo land wherever a cow is killed for a ceremony, the people who slaughtered it have some portions to share but on the following morning, the ‘D day’, none of them appeared at Igwe’s palace for the ceremony.
It was on further inquiries that we discovered that it had been decreed the previous night that no Umuode man should attend the coronation but on the day Igwe Nomeh was presented to the Chairman of Nkanu Local Government Area, they were present. The next thing we saw was that they went to court challenging Igwe Nomeh’s election. Though we were surprised but we regarded it as normal for any aggrieved person or group though they lost the suit because they didn’t have enough evidence to prove marginalization.
Who was leading the Umuode people at this stage?Prof Barth Nnaji.
Was he around during the nomination?No, he was in America but was directing his people on what to do.
Did he try to contest?No, he did not. We thought that this was a very minor matter. Before we knew it, they started distancing themselves from all activities in the town. Then, the last straw that broke the camel’s back was that Oruku people and Akpugo people have been battling over this land, from where we are today to its end at Inyaba River, about 4 kilometers from here. When it started in 1933, all the native courts gave judgment in favor of Oruku people on this land. You know, the Nigerian legal system, there is how it is. I can sue you to court because of one thing and get judgment; another person can go out and give that thing another name and will sue me to court.
Akpugo people because they are larger than us in population and are hungry for land, due to population explosion in their place, started encroaching in our lands. All the native court judgments are in our favor and what we call, the Di-Hills Report (A Whiteman’s report). Di- Hills himself was a representative of the Resident who conducted research on the communities in Nkanu land, their evolution and so on. The report indicated that this land we are occupying today is Oruku land because there are court judgments in our favor. In 1971, our people took Akpugo people to court for trespass after Akpugo attacked us in 1964 and killed three people here on this soil. Then due to want of diligent prosecution on the side of our lawyer, Anyamene (SAN), because each day he was supposed to go to the High Court, he would go to the Supreme Court, the matter was struck out at the instance of Akpugo people, through their lawyer.
The following day, they went and instituted a fresh suit against us on this particular land. Then, one of their sons who worked in the archives went and hid all the records from colonial times showing that this land belong to us. Every community in Igbo land has their records in the Enugu archives. When our lawyer came back from the Supreme Court on a different case, he applied for the relisting of that suit which was granted by Justice Mbanefo in 1976. Few days later, they filed an appeal against the relisting of the suit and abandoned it there. They then filed a fresh suit in another Court against us. We lost at the High Court. The judgment ceded the right hand side of Oruku to Akpugo which Akpugo people renamed Aguefi.
They produced a map and claimed that the entire right hand side of Oruku is now Aguefi Akpugo which was wrong. We appealed against this and the appeal court gave the judgment in our favor. The Appeal Court recognized the colonial documents and native court judgments in our favor. They went to the Supreme Court where we lost as they claimed they were in physical possession of the land. After the judgment of July 1994, we gathered at (Onyioha house) - the oldest man in the community’s palace, Prof. Barth Nnaji who was in attendance suggested to the community that the only way to achieve peace between us and Akpugo is to divide the land into two. The Inyaba end to Akpugo, while the other side of it to Oruku. One of his kinsmen, Late Ogbonnia Ogbodo, stood up and told him it would not happen like that. He advised Prof. Nnaji to liaise with other leaders of Oruku and find any other avenue whether social, political or legal to solve the problem since it did not favor us at the apex court. This comment by Chief Ogonnia Ogbodo was hailed and unanimously supported by Oruku People.
That night, unknown to the other clans, the Umuode people en-masse went and fined the man one thousand naira and started segregation in the Town more especially in the Town Union, age grades, and village meetings and in 1995, they plotted to kill the then president of our Town Union, Chief Nnaji Nwobisi in his farm. There was a riot in this community after which Umuode ran into exile to Ezza Akpuoga.
The then military governor, Col Mike Torey, brought them back and asked us to live in peace but they did not stop their wicked activities. We did not know they had plans to eject us from our ancestral home. Later, they stopped greeting us and if we greeted them, they would not respond.
I like being factual and objective in my life. In 1998, they said they did not want to be in Oruku again but wanted an autonomous community. The then military administrator, Col. Sule Ahman, set up a committee to look into the issue of autonomous community. Our people were invited and they did not object to Umuode’s desire for grant of autonomy which the committee recommended based on availability of virgin land to settle them.
They did not recommend evicting any Oruku man from his ancestral home for the Umuodes. As time went by, Umuode people insisted that Oruku people must vacate Aguefi land predominantly occupied by Umuchiani and Onuogowo for them. They brought out a fake and concocted document claiming that they bought the land. The land we had inhabited before their arrival to Oruku . Go there and see if it is a virgin land.
What is the size of this land?Aguefi is over 1,000 hectares. Our people refused to vacate Aguefi and out of love and magnanimity donated to them a virgin land at Abari. It measures about 405 hectares, but Umuode refused accepting it and claimed that they bought our ancestral home from a segment of Akpugo people.
Who are those segments?The Umuode or the Awbias from Akpugo. They have an umbrella body called Odezuluigbo Welfare Association in Nkanu. Every matter concerning an Umuode man is sponsored by them.
You are on Aguefi already?Yes, this land is on Aguefi. They now went and lobbied the then governor who acquired our ancestral home citing Land Use Act. Imagine Umuode claiming to have purchased Aguefi land and the military Governor acquired it. This is wonderful!
Acquire it for what purpose?For what he purportedly tagged “for public interest”, according to their Land Use Act.
Which governor is this one?Navy Captain Agbaje, the last military administrator of Enugu state. He gave our people two weeks to vacate from this land. We said, No.
Where is Agbaje from?He is from Ondo State
What later happened?In 1999, the Umuodes after the expiration of the two weeks, started demolishing and de-roofing their houses preparatory to move into Aguefi land hoping that Oruku people living there would vacate for them. The then local Government Chairman, Mr. Asogwa, acting on the instruction of Capt Agbaje, sent a letter to Oruku people ordering us to pack out of Aguefi. One Emmanuel Omaba of Umuode used his pick up van to load their properties to Prof. Nnaji’ house located in Eziobodo Village in Aguefi.
Then, on February 22, 1999, Umuode attacked Oruku people from Akpuoga Nike, one of our neighboring communities who are of Umuode extraction in Nike town. They shot and killed many Oruku people and war broke out. They too lost some people but, to be frank, they started it. For two weeks, there was full scale war between the two brothers (even though Umuode claim that they do not have any blood relationship with us, which is true). No Army or Police intervened. At the end, they ran away to Akpuoga Nike and stayed there for eight years.
When former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani assumed Office and looked into the matter, he visited Abari land donated by Oruku to Umuode and found out that it is a virgin land good for their resettlement, Umuode started blackmailing him. He abandoned the matter to face other state matters because Umuode vowed not to accept Abari.
During the sitting of Oputa panel in Enugu, Umuode petitioned that they were being short-changed in their land (forgetting their history). Members of the panel visited Oruku and found Aguefi highly litigated and inhabited. A member of the panel, Rev. Fr Mathew Kukah, asked them whether this is the place you want occupy. (Referring to Aguefi land with Oruku homes), “they answered, ‘yes’ and the reverend father laughed. In their report, they concluded that if the federal government provided infrastructures in Abari land, they saw no reason why Umuode should refuse going there to settle.
What is the land used for now?It is used for farming. In fact, it is one of the most fertile lands here in Oruku. My late father was a popular farmer; he farmed there when he was alive. It is a general land. You dare not sell any land or palm tree there. The Umuodes, also, farm there. It does not belong to an individual. In spite of Oputa’s recommendation, they chose to stay in exile.
The Catholic Church became the problem. Rev. Dr Anthony Gbuji, Bishop of Enugu Diocese, whose cousin is marrying an Umuode woman started intimidating and humiliating our people overtly and covertly.
The Catholic Church accused us of encouraging slavery yet some of our men are married to their women. We leave everything to Almighty God.
In 2007, when the present governor, Barrister Sullivan Chime, came in, he went into alliance with Prof. Barth Nnaji and Umuode with a plan to evict us from our home, maybe, because they have a professor, I do not know. We equally have our own intellectuals here like Osita Onuma and others.
On 8th December 2007, surprisingly Umuode stormed Oruku en masse and camped at Prof. Nnaji’s uncompleted house and started unleashing terror on Oruku people claiming Gov. Chime’s support. Then, we met the governor. He said the Supreme Court gave the land to Akpugo and that Umuode bought it from a segment of Akpugo, then Government acquired it and that Oruku must vacate Aguefi land. But Akpugo people, the original owners of the land, through their Igwes as there is no village in Akpugo where an Umuode man is Igwe, had instituted a suit against the government for acquisition of Aguefi land. The case is still pending at Agbani High Court. The suit number is HAGB/6/08.
Then, there was a suit on appeal, the E/171/ 71 which was abandoned in 1976 by Akpugo people, our people went and resurrected it. The appeal was dismissed at the Appeal Court paving way for us to restart litigation on the matter. When we got to High Court, we and Akpugo people met because we are brothers, and intermarry, and had a Consent Agreement which was made judgment of an Enugu High Court on 30th January 2008.
It was a Consent judgment. The Supreme Court judgment did not pronounce any family or segment as the owner of the land but Akpugo people or community in general. Let me refer you to the judgment: Umuode were described as ‘Osu’ in that judgment. We do not practice ‘Osu’ here. His Lordship Belgore described them as ‘Awbia’ meaning strangers who cannot own land. That is their generic name in Nkanu land.
We sent the consent judgment as well as the pending case against the acquisition of Aguefi at Agbani High Court to the Governor, he refused to accept them.
On 29th December, 2007, Umuode youths, armed with an AK-47 bought for them by Prof. Barth Nnaji, shot and killed one Ekene Okenwa, and also attacked mobile policemen in Oruku then. It took the intervention of those policemen to retrieve the body. He died instantly. Today, nobody has been prosecuted or charged to court.
In the evening of that day, they abducted one of our chiefs- Chief Felix Nwatu and killed him. No one has been charged to court till date upon complaints we made to the police and many other cases of arson, showing police connivance with Enugu State Government against us because an Umuode man from Akpugo is the Deputy Inspector General of Police today. He is DIG Ogbonna Onovo.
That is why we wrote to Mr. President. We did that. We owe no apologies for that because we have our facts. They keep on telling us that as long as they have DIG Onovo and the governor behind them, we must vacate from Aguefi land. That soon, the current Inspector General will retire and Onovo will take over.
Some Umuode’s including Mr. Emma Omaba, John Onovo, Clement Inyaba, Maurice Edeh, Chidi Mbonu e.t.c have boasted this before me severally. On December 30, 2007, we went to the governor and he told us that we have to vacate Aguefi land. We came and told our people. They were shocked (about three people have died because of the shocking news) and concluded that we cannot vacate our ancestral home, because we have no other place to move to.
Okpuhu, where we lived before had been taken over by rivers and lakes. Then, we resorted to praying to God.
After visiting Oruku on January 12, 2008, the governor promised to set up a committee to enumerate houses and set up boundaries.
That brings us to this question: What is the numerical strength of Oruku and Umuode?
On the day the panel started their work, an Umuode man armed with AK 47 way-laid the members and us to shoot and kill us. Only God through one of the policemen saved us. The man was arrested but today, he is walking freely. His name is Okechukwu Ani.
Throughout the enumeration, nothing incriminating was found against Oruku. After the enumeration, the number of compounds in Oruku was 1,205. Out of this number, Umuode have 292. Our people have 896. The remaining 17 properties are those we have in common like schools, hospitals, market etc.
In Aguefi, the number of houses was 560 out of 1205, Oruku people have 449 homes while Umuode have 111 houses. Let us use the National Population Commission’s estimate of ten people per household. You will find out that Oruku people are about 4500 over 75% while Umuode are less than 25% and about 1,000 in Aguefi land yet Enugu State Government under Barr. Sullivan Chime’s regime resolved to evict us instead of developing Abari land for them.
During the enumeration, Umuode’s representatives could not even remember some of their former compounds. We cooperated with each other and we assisted them. Then terrible thing happened, close to the end of the job, Umuode hosted some of the panel members to a party to the consternation of our people at Akporga Nike, when they did not taste pure water in Oruku They refused even accepting kola nut or palm wine from the Igwe of Oruku, HRH Dr C A Nomeh, the Ezeudo 1. The next day, the Catholic Church hosted them to a party at Akporga Nike Parish. It was then that we discovered that the C. J Aneke-led panel had been influenced. The two civil servants who served in the panel were threatened to sign the report against their wish by Governor Chime.
The Governor on the 18th day of December 2008 invited us to Old Government Lodge, Enugu and told us that he invited us to prepare our minds against any shock based on the panel’s report. He informed us that all Oruku people living at Aguefi must vacate the land for Umuode to move in.
The question is, where are we moving to? We had told the governor through our different write-ups that precedents exists in other places in Nkanu land where their Umuodes were settled in a virgin land provided by their freeborn mother communities such as Ugwuaji from Amechi Awkunanaw , Akwuke from Akegbe Ugwu, Ugwogo fron Ibagwa Nike, Isiogbo Nara from Nara but he couldn’t listen.
The Governor insisted that we must vacate our homes. Umuodes were parading fake documents to show they bought land from Akpugo but there is a pending suit against it. But the governor ignored it. Akpugo leaders and their traditional rulers are on our side with the consent judgment.
The governor further informed us that he will use N264m naira to compensate Oruku people and use N156m naira to settle Umuode but our reaction is that he should use the amounts (N250m and N156m) and develop Abari for Umuode. He said Abari is marshy. Can you cultivate food on marshy land?
Then on 28 January 2009, there was an Exco meeting where the contents of the white paper with the ‘unimplementable’ recommendations of the panel were approved without any member making any input as the Governor threatened those who want to condemn the idea. Is the governor not trying to create an Isreali/palestine situation here? Or making this town another Niger Delta? Chime has refused to listen. We have been praying since then because we believe in God.
The moment Umuode got wind of the approval of the white paper, they way-laid Oruku. We started seeing their movement. They started writing “remove by Umuode” on houses and burnt some of these houses. We went and reported to the police. In the evening of 29 January 09 we told the police that we hear that Umuode are laying ambush in the bushes and footpaths in Oruku to attack us. At midnight of 30 January, Umuode started attacking us. Unfortunately, the police became biased and started arresting our people instead of the precipitators. In the afternoon, they came with Armored Personnel Carrier and started arresting people up to this compound which is about 2 kilometres from where the incident took place. They now shifted their hunt for Oruku people to Enugu.
Four of our sons were arrested there in their offices and homes. It is like a gang-up. Government is fighting us, police is fighting us. We now look up to God. That is why we wrote to the president against DIG Onovo, Umuode’s protector from police. We don’t want Hutu’s and Tutse’s situation here.
Umuode has produced two local government councilors in Oruku. We voted for them even though we are more in number, because we are accommodating. Yet, look at what is happening to us. How can they bite the finger that fed them or destroy the house that sheltered them?
What do you think is the best way to settle this matter? We believe in God, and are conscious of his will. We have given Umuode a virgin land and appealed to government to develop it for them. That is the best way to settle this problem but they said it is marshy. We then asked them to return to their houses in Oruku and let us live together as one Oruku as before yet they refuse these two options. These are our stand on the matter. Our people are now in a state of lugubriousness.
How come marriage between the Orukus and Umuodes appear one sided? While the Oruku men marry Umuode women, Umuode men do not marry Oruku women. On the issue of marriage I can tell you that five Oruku men are marrying Umuode’s women and they are living with them now. But no Umuode man is marrying from Oruku. They are the ones segregating. I had friends from Umuode side which includes female ones before the crisis. Two families of Umuode who refused to join them in their evil acts against Oruku people are still living with their families in Oruku today mingling freely with Oruku people. One of them is a chief priest of one of our shrines.
Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), a leading human rights organization in Nigeria, has thrown its weight behind Governor Peter Obi of Anambra state in the run up to the 2010 governorship election in the state.
