• Over 200 houses destroyed as deep-seated squabble tears Izzi clan apart • Families trade accusations, council boss, others deny involvement
From Wilson Okereke, Afikpo
The festering dispute between the two kindreds of Izzi; a major clan in Ebonyi State, has taken a new twist as suspected mercenaries allegedly led by a military officer from the area on March 31, 2023, attacked Ndiefi Village, Ishieke in Ebonyi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
There has been a cold war between Igbojima and Unwuera kindreds of Izzi land. Trouble reportedly started as a result of the people’s tradition where every man who has come of age and married is usually provided with a piece of land by the villagers at their communal landed property. But unfortunately, the age long arrangement turned sour as a particular family in the area allegedly began to lay claim over the said vast land which had been allotted to many people.
It was also learnt that prior to the crisis, the matter was pending at Randa Customary Court in Izzi Local Government Area and Ebonyi State High Court, Abakaliki Division, since 2020.
Village head of Ndiefi Ishieke, Mr Sunday Eze, said there was no problem in the area until December 27, 2022, when the chairman of the local government, Chinedu Uburu, allegedly came to the area and ousted him from his position simply because he (Uburu) belongs to Igbojima kindred. He claimed that the people resisted his removal because there was an existing zoning arrangement between the two kindreds; Unwuera and Igbojima over their leadership from the time immemorial.
Eze further alleged that the council boss handed the village headship to one Mr Amaechi Okokpa, his fellow Igbojima man, adding that Uburu further instigated the Okuku Ede’s family to bury their late son, Christopher Ede on a portion of the disputed land.
“For the sake of peace, we decided to let go but surprisingly immediately after the said funeral, the people wielding all kinds of dangerous weapons led by one Igboke began to attack all the occupants of the land comprising many hectares and along the line injured some people and destroyed many houses,” he narrated.
Corroborating Eze’s account, a stakeholder, Dr Benjamin Nwoba, said that before the incident, he, alongside others, was invited by the police at the SWAT Section of Ebonyi State Police Command, Abakaliki on March 30, 2023. He noted that the claim of ownership of the communal land by the Okuku Ede family was just to foment trouble.
“It was an effort to resolve the problem amicably that we were invited by police as the Ede’s family had planned to bury the deceased on 31st March, 2023, but the officers, on their part appealed that the burial should be allowed and we agreed without knowing that the same people had concluded their plan to attack many of us who belong to the Unwuera kindred,” he explained.
He disclosed that shortly after the burial, around 2am, some suspected mercenaries, numbering over 50, who were allegedly imported from another state by a soldier from Igbojima kindred, and his cohorts began to attack every beneficiary of the communal land and thereby destroyed over 200 houses and injured 11 persons.
“I signed an undertaking at the SWAT office that my people would neither confront the bereaved family nor cause problem in the area without having the knowledge that the council chairman had instructed his fellow kindred men to attack us.
“To show that it was a coordinated attack which lasted for days against every occupant of the communal land, the mayhem was supervised by the council chairman throughout the period.
“It was the support given to the attackers that made the people to be moving from one house to another inflicting machete cuts on their targets and destroying houses but based on the peaceful disposition of the Unwuera people, we decided not to retaliate, mostly as the forefathers of the two kindreds being Igbojima and Unwuera were stepbrothers,” he explained.
Nwoba further accused the police of complicity in the crisis, saying they could not stop the destruction between March 30th night and April 1, 2023, until the attackers had allegedly damaged 43 compounds comprising more than 200 houses, thereby rendering the occupants homeless.
He added that the villagers and the family of Okuku Ede had been in court over the same matter but the latter suddenly was emboldened by the emergence of their kinsmen as winners in different categories of electoral offices in the recent general elections, including the governorship. He claimed that their recent political fortune made them become more clannish, claiming that the said land belongs to only Igbojima people instead of the entire village.
Nwoba said: “Though few houses of Igbojima people in the land were destroyed too but the major problem is that they are claiming that the entire land belongs to their kindred. As I’m speaking now, over 300 persons are displaced by the attack while my life is equally in danger over series of threats from many angles.”
He called on the council chairman to rebuild the damaged houses of Unwuera people, while begging the people not to go on revenge mission. He said no matter the gravity of the havoc, “we are still one, I’m appealing that the government should arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of the heinous crimes against my people.”
A victim, Ikechukwu Nwogbodo, said that his building, motorcycle and other valuables were damaged by the attackers who he said also carted away other valuables from his home including N100,000cash.
Another victim, Mr Odom Alibasa, said that he woke up as a result of the shootings and other unusual movements only to discover that his compound had been surrounded by the invaders who shot him on the leg and damaged his buildings.
“The people came to me and told me that I will die as Late Christopher Ede but perhaps for divine intervention, they changed their minds and shot me on my legs after giving me severe beatings. They also destroyed my storey building which I have taken to the decking level and took away my rods and other assets from my compound,” Alibasa lamented.
But reacting to the development, Ebonyi LGA Chairman, Mr Chinedu Uburu, denied being part of the said attack. He said he received a call from someone on the fateful night alleging that some soldiers were harassing people in the area.
According to him, he queried the people on why they did not intimate him of the issue before inviting the military personnel. He then assured the people that he would investigate the matter, only to surprisingly hear that he was the person that instigated the trouble even when he is not an indigene of the area.
“Whoever that is accusing me over the incident is simply looking for cheap blackmail because I do not have an idea of any destruction in the area,” he said.
Uburu further promised to do everything within his power to ensure that peace returned in the village adding that he would have acted instantly by bringing normalcy in the village if he was informed in good time.
He, in addition, said that dragging the name of the Governor-elect, Ogbonnaya Nwifuru, into the matter was a mere beer parlour discussion.
On their part, members of Okuku Ede’s family also said they did not mastermind the crisis.
Addressing newsmen, one of them, Mr Cletus Ede said that the trouble started in 2018 when the village leadership headed by Amaechi Okokpa decided to expand the local market in the area but in the process, they allegedly trespassed into his family land without consulting the owners. He claimed that his aged mother, Mrs Christiana Edeh who tried to resist the encroachment was given the beating of her life by some villagers.
His words: “I wish to put the record straight for the above subject matter. The issue was reported at Ugbodo Police Station and subsequently transferred to the state Police Command through a petition dated March 7, 2018 by legal counsel, Arthur Nwaji and the case was eventually transferred to the State Command when it had become obvious that the villagers were becoming violent,” he said.
He stated that few persons were arrested in connection with the incident but through the intervention of some community leaders who approached his family for resolution, his family was penalised over N201,000, for involving the police without notifying the village leadership.
According to them, the amount was what the village leadership claimed that it incurred in attending to the matter at the police station.
Nwaji disclosed that his family could not get leniency and they eventually paid the fine in August 2019 during the village annual meeting. But he said after paying the fine, the village leadership abandoned the contentious portion earlier marked for the market expansion and further encroached into other vast part of the land.
“It was on this note that my family and the family of Nwebonyi Alieze whose land was equally confiscated by the same group of persons took the same matter to Customary Court Ugbodo and as a result, the court officials visited the land and placed ‘stop work’ order on the land pending the determination of the matter, but Mr. Benjamin Nwoba who is a major stakeholder and very influential individual in the village announced in the village square that the people should disregard the court order,” he explained.
He accused Nwoba of orchestrating crisis in the village including dethroning Okokpa as village head and installing his loyalist, Sunday Eze.
Nwaji also said that in his family’s quest for justice, they reported the matter to Izzi Traditional Rulers Forum known as Oha-Izzi. He said 11 of the members, including the chairman of the council, Eze Sunday Oketa visited the village on June 8, 2021 over the problem. He said the royal fathers, after thorough investigation, ruled that the land in dispute belonged to the Edeh family and rebuked the villagers for encroaching on the said expanse of land.
“I can remember that Mr Uchenna Ede was attacked by this cult group in December 2022 and a case of coordinated terror attack and/use of armed cult group on my family members was reported against the cult group to the DIG of Police, Force CID Abuja dated January 12, 2022. Copies of the petitions will be provided on request,” he added.
He further alleged that unending attacks in the village led to the visit of the council boss and the leadership of Oha-Izzi, the highest decision-making body in Izzi Clan on December 27, 2022, to restore peace in the village.
According to him, it was at the meeting that the leadership of Sunday Eze was allegedly dissolved and instantly, a peace committee headed by Amaechi Okokpa was inaugurated to midwife a peace process.
Barely two weeks after, Nwaji said that Nwoba’s faction allegedly dethroned the peace committee and installed Mr Sunday Eze as the village head.
He said that the faction allegedly mobilised some suspected miscreants to stop the burial arrangement of his own bother, Christopher Ede, scheduled for March 31, 2023, in the village.
Nwaji further disclosed that Nwoba was detained by the police to forestall crisis in the village.
“In their attempt to stop the funeral, Dr Benjamin Nwoba and his cohorts fabricated lies and rushed to State Police Headquarters in Abakaliki and requested that the officers should stop the burial, but the security men with their high sense of intelligence invited both parties for interview and interrogation and after an intensive interview, it was clearly noticed that Dr Nwoba’s claim was untrue.
“The police therefore directed that they should go to court to secure an injunction, as the police do not give such order. And when it became obvious that Dr Nwoba and his group were not satisfied, evidenced by their body language, the Assistant Commissioner of Police then directed that they must write an undertaking to be of good conduct and not to foment trouble in the village during the burial. But to the chagrin of all, two people from their side suddenly disappeared into thin air from the Police Headquarters.
“And following the tricky act displaced by the two persons, immediately Dr Nwoba was detained till the following day and upon his release, he pressured the police authority to arrest me too but the officers did not yield to the request. And after, he found out that he could not influence the police officers, he went and mobilised an attack at the burial venue during the wake but luckily for the bereaved family, the hoodlums were dispersed by the villagers,” he alleged.
He also claimed that Nwoba’s factional leadership went further and invited about 15 soldiers to disorganise the funeral activities on March 31.
He said that it was on sensing imminent danger that the chairman of the peace committee, Okopka, alerted the council chairman who rushed to Ndiefi Village and discharged the military personnel, peacefully.
He appealed to Governor David Umahi to set up a commission of enquiry to investigate the matter in order to restore peace and bring the culprits to book.
Chairman of Izzi Traditional Rulers Forum, Eze Oketa, confirmed that the royal fathers had intervened in the matter.