Owerri: Fire On The Throne: How Okorocha Destroyed The Royal Home; Members Fight To Restore Sanity

By Charles Igbo

When iconic novelist, the late Professor Chinua Achebe, wrote his epic novel, Things Fall Apart, nobody knew that he was prophetically writing about Owere Nchi Ise (Owerri, the capital of Imo State) of this day and age. Events have since proved that things have truly fallen apart in Owere.

A community that was once closely knit together historically, economically and readily shared filial love, before the advent of the Chief Rochas Okorocha administration in 2011, is now a shadow of its former self.

History has it that the forefathers of Owere Nchi Ise community migrated from Uratta in the present Owerri North local government area of Imo State. The point being canvassed here is not to narrate this entire history, but to expose how things fell apart.

The community has five villages and this explains how the name Owere Nchi Ise was derived. The villages include Umuororonjo, Amawom, Umuonyeche, Umuodu and Umuoyima. Each had a recognized village head. The succession arrangement of the village heads was for ages, properly defined and devoid of acrimony and rancour.

The village heads today are Chief T. O. S. Oparaugo, Umuororonjo, Chief Dennis Dike, Amawom, Chief Herbert Mere, Umuonyeche, Chief Ikefuaku Anozie Emeto, Umuodu and Chief Cyril Ukaegbu, Umuoyima. History also has it that the traditional hereditary heads are drawn from the Oparaugo, Dike Owere Emenyi, Mere, Anozie Emeto and Ukaegbu families respectfully.

Another family in Owere Nchi Ise community that has a special calling and responsibility is the Ejiogu family of Umuihugba, Umuodu village. They have always produced Onye Ishi Ala Owere (the Chief Priest).
Similarly, the King Makers (Ochi Eze) come from Eke Na Okorie kindred of Amawom village. It has also been their task to install the paramount ruler, from the selected Njemanze son.

Mention must also be made of a traditional legislative and judicial body, the Oha Owere. Aggrieved persons take their matters this body for adjudication. Membership of this body is drawn from all the five villages.
Traditionally also, Owere Nchi Ise community parades the age grade system, an equally binding force in the community. Membership of the age grades are drawn from all the five villages.

The same is also true of Owere daughters, Mgboto Owere and that of the married women, Ndom Owere.
These were the position of things in Owerri until things fell apart, with the balkanization of the ancient, peaceful and united community, by the administration of Okorocha.

By virtue of this development, every village was branded an “autonomous community”, with a “traditional ruler” appointed and recognized by the administration that created them. Virtually all of them have been carrying on as if they are demi gods.

Bob Njemanze put it succinctly: “To further destroy the bond of the people, he (Okorocha) handpicked indiscriminately, loafers with hardly any pedigree, from the five villages, including a traducer from the Njemanze family, purporting to have made them Ezes, regardless of the custom and tradition of Owere people, process and procedure.

“These loafers, who have neither following nor followership in the individual villages, are still parading themselves as as Ezes or traditional rulers, an issue that calls for redress.”

In a recent story published by an Owerri based tabloid, Okorocha’s appointee in Amawom, Chikere Peter Njemanze, not only dissolved the Amawom Welfare Association, AWA, but also accused the likes of Bob Njemanze, Ahanonu Njemanze, the Njiribeakos, Ndukwes and others, of being instrumental in the balkanization of Owerri.

He also accused Bob Njemanze, Chief Uche Onyeagucha, Hon. Solomon Anukam and Chief Jasper Ndubuaku of being behind his ejection from his “palace”.

Apparently irked by the bashing, and in a bid to put the facts straight, Bob Njemanze took him up, after recounting events that snowballed into the emergence of the “royal fathers” in Owere Nchi Ise.

He recalled with grief that before the Ozuruigbo V of Owere, Eze Emmanuel Emenyonu Njemanze died, his palace was razed to rubbles by fire.
Okorocha relocated the “homeless” royal father to a government guest house, promising to not only rebuild the burnt palace, but also to erect an adjoining guest house for the royal father, at Mann Street Primary School, Owerri.

Expectations were high but this turned out to be a mirage because Okorocha, being a non-indigene and being alien to the culture and tradition of Nde Owere, did not appreciate the difference between “Ibari Njemanze” and “Mbari Centre”, where cultural and historical artefacts were kept.

Bob Njemanze said: “Unknown to Owere people, this apparent show of love was a Greek gift, to enable him (Rocha Okorocha) acquire and convert to his personal use, most of our ancestral lands.
“When he tried to acquire the various lands for his personal use was resisted, he then suspended Eze Njemanze, Ozuruigbo V of Owere, for some untenable reasons. This was the reason for his sudden and untimely death.
“Okorocha then went ahead to create a non-existent title of Eze Imo; and located him at the supposed palace at the Mbari Centre, meant for Eze Owere, now designating it as Eze Imo Palace, Obi Eze Imo.

“Meanwhile, he (Okorocha) situated a puppet, whom he needed his signature on land matters, at the Mann Street Primary School, the supposed guest house of Eze Owere. He did this to break the age long tradition of courtesy calls by visiting dignitaries on Eze Njemanze, the paramount ruler of Owere.

“As if this was not bad enough, Okorocha committed another abomination, when he moved the traditional ruler of Orodo autonomous community, Eze Samuel Ohiri, to Owere, where he pours libation and break kolanuts on Owere ancestral land

“It is not lost on anybody that the Okorocha administration destroyed the ancestral Ekeukwu Owere, which among other benefits, was a binding force of Owere people.

“It was a thing of joy for most Owere people, when the short-lived Emeka Ihedioha administration started redressing the gross anomaly, by ejecting the impostor, who is parading himself as Eze Owere, Ozuruigbo VI, as evidenced by the publication in the local tabloid”.

To cap it up, Bob Njemanze said it has become absolutely necessary to bring these facts to public notice, “to forestall the activities of some dubious elements in our community, land speculators, some of whom bear the Njemanze name, in one guise or another”, adding that one even parades as a traditional ruler, claiming to have powers to dissolve and reconstitute committees for land allocations and others.

His words: “These characters also exist in other communities. Ours, therefore, is no exception. I therefore, seize this opportunity to bring to the attention of the (imo State) government and the general public, the traditional and statutory position, away from the bastardisation by Chief Ethelbert Anayo Okorocha.”

Not a few people are looking forward to the Owere Nchi Ise of old, and yearning for Governor Hope Uzodinma to help restore its lost glory.