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•Family banished, buildings, economic trees destroyed for allegedly winning case against village
From Wilson Okereke, Abakaliki
Ostracism is a barbaric cultural practice in Ebonyi State, particularly among the Izzi people in the northern part of the state.
This entails banishment, which serves as a deterrent to persons who might have fouled the rules and regulations of their communities or committed what their people term as abomination.
Family members of the late Nwafor Nwankwegu Eleke, in Obegu Amagu Onicha, Abakaliki Local Government Area of the state, were recently served the bitter pill. Some people in the community, on August 18, 2025, reportedly ostracised them.
A member of the affected family, Henry Ndubuisi Nwafor, said their offence was that they obtained justice in the law court over a litigation instituted against some persons that seized a portion of land belonging to their late patriarch, Eleke.
He said that his father had enjoyed the land without encountering any molestation till he died in 1990. According to him, the problem started around 2007, when the then council chairman of Abakaliki LGA allegedly persuaded some persons to believe that the property was a communal land.
Following the development, his family, alongside other affected people, reported the matter at the forum comprising 14 traditional rulers across Izzi Clan, led by the late Eze Peter Nkashi Nwokeocha, where his family obtained justice.
Nwafor further said that his family members resorted to the court when they discovered that the said intruders had ignored the ruling signed by all the arbitrators. So, on January 22, 2025, the Chief Judge of Ebonyi State, Justice Elvis Ngene, delivered judgment in favour of his family.
He related that member of his family went on with their businesses after the judgment, believing that the matter had been permanently resolved, but, unfortunately, on a fateful day in July 2025, some members of the community stormed their compounds to eliminate: “My siblings and I were already in our various places of work on the fateful day when the men chanting war songs invaded our compounds and destroyed our four bungalow buildings comprising many apartments.”
He alleged that the attackers were still threatening their lives after damaging their economic trees, domestic animals and other valuables.
Another victim, Mr. Samuel Chukwuma Nwafor corroborated the information reiterated that the piece of land acquired by his late father in accordance with the people’s tradition dialectically known as Itu Ali was not into contention until 2007 when some persons were negatively influenced against his family by the then council chairman.
He disclosed that the matter had also been handled at the community level and the Family Law Centre, Abakaliki, in favour of his family before the latest judgment presided by Justice Ngene.
The troubled members of Nwafor Nwankwegu Eleke family, therefore, appealed to the state governor, Chief Francis Nwifuru for intervention as he and his five siblings together with their families were currently taking refuge in neighbouring villages.
Daily Sun is in possession of the resolution of Izzi Clan in respect to the matter which was signed by the 14 traditional rulers. The document clearly stated that it was an abomination to tamper with any piece of land customarily leased to people.
Also, the judgment of High Court of Ebonyi State of Nigeria with the number HAB/107/2016 in the matter between Late Nwafor Eleke’s family and Hon. Emmanuel Uguru, Martin Uguru among others which was presided by Justice Ngene, declared that the purported compulsory acquisition and takeover of the piece of land known and called Ali Nwafor Nwankwegu Eleke exclusively belonging to the plaintiffs’ family by the defendants in the suit was illegal null and void and at variance with the Izzi native law and custom.
It said that the defendants shall pay as general damages to the plaintiffs, the sum of N1million while the defendants, their servants, privies, workmen, agents and howsoever described are perpetually restrained from further acts of trespass into the plaintiffs’ land.
One of the village heads of Obegu Amegu Onicha, Mr. Jeremiah Chukwuka Edeh when contacted on phone simply told Daily Sun that they were already in the process of resolving the crisis.
