Deposed Anambra Monarch Accuses Soludo Of Not Giving Him A Fair Hearing

By Chuks Eke

Igwe Humphrey Ejesieme, the deposed traditional leader of the Umuona community in the Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, has declared his innocence of the charges brought against him that resulted in the State Government rescinding its certificate of recognition.

He claimed that had Soludo, who is from Isuofia, a nearby village to his own Umuona, given him a fair hearing, Governor Soludo would have learned that Chief Kenneth Okoli, the President-General of the Umuona Town Union, had prepared a baseless petition against him.

In June 2023, the state government declared the Chieftaincy stool vacant after Tony Collins Nwabunwanne, the Commissioner for Local Government, Town Union, and Chieftaincy Matters, withdrew the certificate of recognition that former Governor Peter Obi had given to Igwe Ejesieme in 2014.

A portion of the community who supported the government’s decision elected and crowned Chief Ikechukwu Ezeofor as their new traditional ruler instead of Ejesieme. Those who disagreed with the plan boycotted the election process, but the government still recognised Ezeofor as the new traditional ruler of Umuona and awarded him a certificate of recognition.

However, Igwe Ejesiema, who insisted that he is still the Igweby virtue of the government’s refusal to give him a fair hearing, told reporters yesterday in Hus Palace at Umuona that Kenneth Okoli had written a petition to the state government alleging that he stormed the Umuona Civic Centre during their December 28 Annual General Meeting with armed thugs and wanted to attack him. He managed to escape, however, by hastily leaving the high table where he was presiding over the meeting as PG and rushed home out of fear of being attacked by the thugs.

Igwe  Ejesieme who was elected and crowned as the traditional ruler of Umuona in 2013 and was presented with a certificate of recognition on the 7th of March, 2014 by the then  Governor Peter Obi, lamented that the state government, through the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Tony Collins Nwabunwanne just acted I swiftly on the petition written by Okoli and took a  decision to withdraw his certificate.

He said trouble started in his kingdom when the leadership of the community’s town union in early 2023 alleged that he invaded their meeting with thugs who wielded dangerous weapons.

Igwe Ejesieme said the allegations levied against him by the PG prompted the State government to withdraw his certificate of recognition on 13th June 2023 without giving him a fair hearing, probably because the PG has two or three connections within Governor Soludo’s corridors of power.

Specifically, he mentioned Hon. Tony Muobuike representing one of the two constituencies in Aguata at the state House of Assembly who he said is an in-law to the PG and Ifeanyi Oguejiofor, Legal Adviser to the Chieftaincy Affairs Ministry who he also said is an in-law to Ikechukwu Ezeofor,, the newly elected and crowned traditional ruler of the area who was issued with the certificate of recognition few weeks after withdrawing his own.

The Igwe explained that within his 10-year reign,  he had embarked on massive community development and maintained the peace until the recent negative turn of events.

He therefore appealed that Governor Charles Soludo should give him a fair hearing before wielding the big stick, adding that he is already in court to contest his dethronement related to the breach of his fundamental human rights.