Ex-Anambra speaker, others back Oba Monarch’s war against land grabbing

……as Monarch marks maiden Ofala festival

By Cyprian Ebele, Onitsha

The people of Oba in Idemili South Local Government area, Anambra state, weekend, endorsed the war embarked upon by their traditional ruler, HRM, Igwe Augustine Chinedu Emelobe, against land grabbers and other criminal elements in the area.

Among those that endorsed the monarch’s fight during the maiden Ofala festival of the monarch held at Merchants of Light school, Oba, included, former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Emeka Anyaneto, Nze Onwupenata Godwin Ifeanyi, Ejike Madunagu, chairman of Oba Ofala planning committee, Ekene Ebuzoeme, among others.

According to former Speaker Anyaneto, “With the enthronement of Igwe Emelobe, land grabbing has stopped or rather on the part of being stopped and that is the reason some people (land grabbers), opposed the monarch and wanted to stop his enthronement but we muscled them away because majority of the people wanted one who will fight them.

“I want to believe he has already started doing the work and will be able to achieve it. I have been getting invitations to join the Igwe team for twenty something years but this is the first time I agree to join the team. We believe he will do a good job because he started on a good note.

“We as Ichies will be doing committee work to galvanize the community to move on the right part, we have a good monarch and he has connections, we hope he will lead us to the promised land. That was one of the major reasons why I decided to join his team.

“The maiden Ofala is a special one in the sense that the Igwe is a new and physical Igwe and a University graduate. He knows people, a public servant and has connections and money to spend and has been spending it on the community till now,” former speaker stated.

Contributing, a community leader, industrialist and hotelier, Nze Onwupenata Godwin Ifeanyi, disclosed that before now he condemned the illegal activities of land grabbers who have taken over the community because there was no monarch.

“I have been saying for a very long time that there is no control of these land grabbers because we don’t have a monarch. Because we don’t have Igwe a lot of things happen and nobody cares what another person is saying. Now that we have gotten a monarch, we that are Ichies in our various villages will assist the monarch in the administration of the community.

“There will be rapid infrastructural development. You can see the large crowd that came for the maiden Ofala to tell you that our monarch, Emelobe, is a man of the people, Ichies and chiefs are happy, dancing and everybody is making merry,” he maintained.

The CEO of Juliemon Global Resources Real Estate Ltd, Ejike Madunagu, (Ichie Obamaka), said, “I support what Igwe said against land grabbers, it is order from the throne, a high authority and must be obeyed. Everybody should stop selling land illegally,” he warned 

On the maiden Ofala of the monarch he stated that it was an opportunity to meet distant friends, well wishers, relations and in-laws stating that all were happy with the Ofala celebration.

The Ofala planning committee chairman, Ekene Ebuzoeme(Odogwu Oba), expressed satisfaction with the Igwe’s fight against land grabbers and other crime related offences in the community.

His words, “When the righteous are in power the people rejoice but when the wicked are in Power the people suffer. People are happy with the Igwe’s order that sale and buying of land from 9th January to 9th April this year, has stopped for now based on the alarming rate of grabbing of people’s land by criminal  elements.

“There is triumph over evil, there was an attempt to scuttle what we want to do, (Ofala),What is happening shows that good will triumph over evil. Since the enthronement of Igwe Emelobe, the trend has been declining. People are happy that the Messiah has come.

“Igwe made it emphatically clear that it is not going to be business as usual for the land grabbers. Land grabbing and insecurity have been our major problems but one of his cardinal achievements is curbing land grabbing in Oba.

“What do you expect from a town without a monarch, leader for seven years, hoodlums took over the community. I am overwhelmed with the maiden Ofala festival, the success we recorded” he said.