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By Sunday Ani
The Obunaeberenkuma autonomous community in Eluama, Isuikwuato Local Government Area of Abia State has been divided into two major camps since December 26, 2020, following the alleged dissolution of the elected executive of Obunaeberenkuma Development Union and the constitution of an interim Caretaker Committee by Eze Faraday Chinekwe to take over from the Ignatius Okoronkwo-led exco.
Eze Chinekwe was alleged to have thereafter purportedly conducted an election with Chukwuma Amaram as the chairman during the pendency of the substantive suit challenging the illegal desolution at the High Court of Abia State. The said suit was instituted by Mr. Ignatius Okoronkwo and Mr. Okey Mbeyi on behalf of the Union and themselves, respectively.
The division was deepened by the alleged election conducted by a faction of Obunaeberenkuma Development Union on December 26, 2025.
However, one of the leaders in the community, Ezinna Chijioke Igolo, lamented that while the matter was still pending in court, a faction of the development union, led by a three-man committee, went ahead to organise an election without recourse to a pending case instituted against the dissolution of the Ignatius Okoronkwo-led executive by Eze Chinekwe.
He noted that the position of Obunaeberenkuma Development Union is that any election carried out by any appendage of the union is illegal, null and void and can never stand.
“Furthermore, any constitution purported to have been written now by any illegally constituted body aside from what was in place five years ago is null and void and cannot be used for any administrative purpose,” he submitted.
He also alleged that on August 30, 2025, the youth wing of Union led by Kelechi Madu and supported by Eze Chinekwe and his cabinet members, in total disobedience to the parent body and pending matter at the Isuikwuato High Court, constituted a three-man committee, with a clear mandate to conduct elections for the union to elect those that will take over from the Okoronkwo-led exco.
Members of the three-man committee, according to Igolo, were Chinedu Mbeyi, cabinet member; Chinedu Aruogu, cabinet member and John Ndukauba, cabinet member.
“After the election,” he said: “Chief Jude Nosike emerged as the national chairman, Osondu Ngwude (Vice National Chairman), Ikenna Aruogu (Secretary General), Mr Chimaobi Ukpabi (Asst Secretary General), Chief Kelachukwu Onyejelam (Financial Secretary), Mr Innocent Ukeagu (Treasurer), Mr Amara Igolo (PRO), Mr Ikechukwu Ukpabi (Provost 1) and Mr Ndubuisi Ogwuma (Provost 2).”
The issue in contention, according to Igolo, is that the dissolution of Okoronkwo-led executive by Eze Chinekwe and the constitution of a committee headed by Dede Attanna to oversee the affairs of the union pending when a new executive is elected, was unilateral and arbitrary and that led to litigation by Okoronkwo and Mbeyi.
He lamented that while the matter was still pending in court, the three-man committee went ahead to organise a new election on December 26, 2025, which has now produced what he called illegal executive.
He noted that the Union under Okoronkwo’s leadership held its December 2025 convention, where some far-reaching resolutions bordering on the current state of affairs within the community were made.
The resolutions, according to him include: “That the Union should write to Firstbank Plc to remind them of the previous ‘no debit letter’ written through our lawyers concerning the Union’s two accounts domiciled with them urging the bank that the ‘no debit’ instructions on the group’s bank accounts still subsists.
“That the Union should invite the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the circumstances surrounding the continued refusal of the former leadership to hand over the affairs of the union to the exco elected since April 20, 2019, and the reason the Electricity Committee under the previous leadership has refused to render a formal account of its stewardship to the Union.
“That the youth wing of the Union has been proscribed as a result of disloyalty to the parent body and its violent conducts against members of the community which led to the death of a community member currently under investigation by the police.”
The other resolution, according to Igolo includes: “To distance the Union from the parallel convention, the resulting resolutions and the elections conducted by a faction of the Union on December 26, 2025. The convention, the elections, and all the resolutions therefrom are null and void and of no effect because of the subsisting matter pending at the Isuikwuato High Court challenging the dissolution of an elected exco by Eze Chinekwe on December 26, 2020.”
Reacting to the development, the newly elected national chairman, Chief Jude Nosike dismissed Igolo’s allegation as unfounded, stressing that the December 26, 2025 election, which produced him as the national chairman and other executive members, was properly and legally held and binding on the entire community.
He agreed that there was disagreement which produced two camps in the community but noted that on August 30, 2025, the youth wing, the women group and the elders, collectively, called for a meeting of the two groups, where a peace deal was brokered.
“We don’t have oil or any mineral resources in the community; so why the trouble. The youths, the women and the elders said they were tired of the crisis in the community and wanted peace to reign. So, the two groups were called to a meeting at the community’s primary school ground and they resolved to elect a new executive.
“A referendum was conducted before the two warring factions were dissolved. Over 400 people voted in favour of the dissolution and it was done.
“Following the peace deal, a three-man committee was set up and charged with the responsibility of conducting an election to bring onboard a new executive.
“On December 26, 2025, an election conducted by the three-man committee was held and I emerged as the national chairman. So, anybody telling you that the election was not properly conducted or that it was illegal is just trying to foment trouble where none exists.”
However, Igolo disagreed with the submission that both camps came together and agreed to resolve their difference.
He said: “Both camps did not come together to agree to the three-man committee and they also did not agree on the elections. The parallel meeting of the breakaway youth wing was held at the same date and time the convention of the bonafide Obunaeberenkuma Development Union was going on. Thus, the Union led by Okoronkwo was not a party to the three-man committee and the agreement to hold an election
“The three-man committee members, all Eze Chinekwe’s cabinet members, were still the same people that put the community into its present state of anarchy and cannot be used to correct the wrongs they did five years ago.”
