BY RAYMOND OZOJI, Awka
The traditional ruler of Eziowelle community Idemili-North Local Government Area of Anambra State His Royal Highness Igwe Michael Ugorji Nwafor Okonkwo Etusi (Owelle Eziowelle) has declared that nobody can cage Eziowelle with ill-gotten wealth.
Etusi who addressed select journalists in his palace at Umunnama village Eziowelle, maintained that nobody can truncate the peace and tranquility Eziowelle enjoys because no individual is bigger or mightier than the community.
Igwe Okonkwo Etusi said people amassed wealth and bring such wealth home for the development of the grassroots but in the case of Eziowelle, some chronic characters are using their ill-gotten wealth to terrorise the community because of their connection with the police, military and other security agencies in the country.
Owelle Eziowelle remonstrated that rather than deploy their so-called wealth to awarding scholarships, tarring village roads, building and renovating school structures, village health centres as well as provide some other social amenities beneficial to those at the countryside, the characters chose to use their money to instigate crisis and formed parallel town union government to disorganise Eziowelle community.
The traditional ruler who disclosed further, said that one of the dramatis personae using his wealth to sponsor crisis in Eziowelle, have sworn that Eziowelle will never know peace unless and until his own preferred candidate became PG of the community.
The traditional ruler however recalled that the dissident moneybags took the incumbent President-General of Eziowelle Improvement Union to court to challenge his electoral conquest; that for 6 years Eziowelle community has been waiting patiently for the court verdict which the dissident moneybags have blatantly refused to produce.
Igwe said to allow peace reign in the community, he persuaded the incumbent President-General Chief Barr. Titus Nnabuike Akpudo to fix a date for fresh election to be conducted, which the PG heeded and fixed 29th June this year for EIU election.
According to Igwe Okonkwo Etusi, the characters have so much money that they get away with the atrocities and crimes they committed in the community. He said they were no longer members of Eziowelle Improvement Union because they have formed a parallel union they used in causing confusion and rancour in Eziowelle.
He also revealed that the dissident characters were the ones who told other EIU members to do whatever they liked and not remit their check-off dues to the mother union inorder to frustrate it from not having money to undertake developmental projects in the community but in spite of their schemes and plots, Igwe Etusi said the leadership of the EIU still carried out projects beneficial to the people as evident in the building of the ultramodern Eziowelle Civic Center and other felt-need projects by the present Eziowelle Improvement Union government led by Chief Barr. Titus Nnabuike Akpudo.
Igwe Etusi stated without equivocations that the same dissident moneybags fomenting troubles in Eziowelle, were the characters who approached ex-governor Willie Obiano's government demanding the removal of the traditional ruler and the President-General, laying unsubstantiated accusations and falsehoods.
He said the characters have ganged up again and approached Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo's government seeking his dethronement and eviction of the PG but all amounted to efforts in futility. According to him, nobody can silence his community with ill-gotten money and Eziowelle will continue to make remarkable progress with or without the contributions of insignificant disgruntled elements on a mission to destroy themselves and not Eziowelle community.