The clamour by Ohanaeze Ndigbo to disband Ezendigbo in Lagos State was reinforced following the conduct of some Police officers attached to Ezendigbo in Ejigbo kingdom, Eze Nicholas Njoku, during his recent New Yam festival in the State.
P.M.EXPRESS gathered that some Police officers attached to Eze Njoku were alleged to have shot sporadically in the air during the event probably to boost Njoku’s image as a VIP, to the extent that those who attended the event including journalists were scared.
Some became angry when Eze Njoku’s attention was brought to the shooting by some journalists and he was said to have ignored them, which was interpreted to depict arrogance on Njoku’s image.
P.M.EXPRESS investigation revealed that some Igbo groups have began moves to get the Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Igbo Speaking Community in Lagos State to disband Ezendigbo as they claimed it does not serve the genuine interest of Ndigbo in Lagos State.
In the letter to the two factions of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Lagos State led by Chief Solomon Ogbonna Aguene and Sunday Ossai and Igbo Speaking Community led Chief Sunday Udeh and Sunday Eze respectively, it stated the need to disband Ezendigbo because some of them are constituting nuisance in Lagos State.
The group also alleged that it was wrong to create Ezeship outside Igboland and any person who wants to be crowned Ezendigbo should go back to Igbo land and do so.
This agitation is happening in Lagos State as the Ohanaeze Ndigbo FCT have already disbanded Ezendigbo within the territory.
This was contained in a press release dated 22nd September 2023 and signed by the President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in FCT, Ifeanyichukwu Obasi-Nweze, and seven other members of the Executive.
The pan-Igbo socio-cultural organisation said after the sack of one Uche Isaac Egenti and Ibe Nwosu, both who are from Imo State and who have been parading themselves as Eze Ndigbo, they employed one FCK Obike, who was alleged to have been ostracised with them to author a phantom impeachment against Ohanaeze Ndigbo leadership in FCT.
The statement read in part, “The Ohanaeze Ndigbo FCT Abuja Chapter’s General Assembly through the Executive Committee reiterates as follows:
“1. That Federal Capital Territory, Abuja is not lgboland; therefore there are no Eze-Igbos in the Federal Capital Territory. People seeking to be Eze/Kings should go back to their home states in the South East and follow the guiding laws in respect of Chieftaincy – Ndigbo cannot build kingdoms within the traditional leaderships of their host communities thereby creating confusion, unwarranted rivalry, and crises in the FCT.
“2. That Henry Ugbaja, Hilary Ukpabi, FCK Obike, and Promise Ihezie, who are unknown to their respective Presidents General of Abia State and Imo State communities in FCT Abuja, were ostracized with Uche Isaac Egenti:; they cannot speak for Ohanaeze.
“3. The General Public is hereby put ON NOTICE NOT TO DEAL WITH any of them to forestall their fraudulent activities aimed at collecting money from the unsuspecting public – Ohanaeze Nd’lgbo FCT Abuja Chapter is a responsible organization that will not under this regime seek for funds from the general public.”
The FCT chapter of Ohanaeze Ndigbo equally notified the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, urging him not to accord recognition to anyone parading himself as Eze Ndigbo in FCT.
There was no response yet from Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Igbo Speaking Community in Lagos State over the clamour to disband Ezendigbo in Lagos State as at the time of filing this report.
It was gathered that if Ohanaeze Ndigbo ends up disbanding Ezendigbo in Lagos State, they will have to proceed on self exile in line with Igbo culture and tradition.