All is not well with the current traditional leadership of Ugwu-Oji Autonomous Community in Igbo Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State as a man, Mr. Emeka Alison has reportedly chosen to sidestep the gazetted constitution of the community to emerge the Igwe of the area.
Concerned indigenes of the autonomous community have therefore resorted to court action seeking to strip him of the title as he allegedly violated the extant provisions and procedures on how an Igwe should be chosen for the community.
One of the concerned indigenes Dr(Barr.) Philip Eze while speaking with the media at the weekend in Lagos said the Igweship story could be traced back to early 2000 when Enugu State Government gave four quarters linked by ancestral lineage an autonomous community of their own.
Eze, a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) who hails from Isiugwu-Ugwu-Oji community explained that he was serving as the National Chairman of Isiugwu Progressive Union at the time.
According to him, soon after their autonomous community was created, a constitution drafting committee was set up to fashion out how the Igweship seat would be rotated among the four quarters that traditionally make up the autonomous community.
The quarters were Umu-Ogilieze Umu-Obia, Umu-Asema, Umu-Agbo. The fifth quarter that would have naturally joined was Owere-Eze which opted out seeking its own separate autonomy.
Following the adoption of the draft constitution by the indigenes of the four uniting quarters, copy of the constitution was forwarded to the Enugu State Government through the appropriate Ministry and following due process, the constitution was gazetted in January, 2004.
Since the four quarters represent four ancestral brothers, the choice of Igweship was predicated on seniority. The first Igwe was therefore meant to come from Umu-Ogilieze as their fore-father was the first among the siblings. However, they declined to assume the position as they declared not being ready at that time to produce the first Igwe.
According to Barrister Eze, since Umu-Ogilieze declined to take the first shot at the Igweship, the next in seniority which is Umu-Obia represented by Simon Adun – the Oha Buenyi I, emerged the first Igwe of the Autonomous Community.
He said that when Igwe Adun passed on, the next Igwe following the rotational agreement as contained in the gazetted constitution was Umu-Asema. The quarter produced Igwe Fabian Eke who later died on 30th December, 2023 after his reign on the throne.
The retired Assistant Commissioner of Police pointed out that when the throne became vacant and would have been filled by Umu-Agbo the fourth and last child in lineage, people from Umu-Asema began to struggle for the seat again.
Eze who is from Umu-Agbo said one Chief (Dr) Stevo came up declaring that community elders had annointed him to take over as the next Igwe. Mr. Emeka Alison also emerged seeking to occupy the same throne.
The people of Umu-Agbo were opposed to such overtures until the Honorable Commissioner in charge of traditional affairs in Enugu State summoned all the parties to his office in October, 2024.
After listening to the parties, the Commissioner had reportedly declared openly that the constitution in question was unambiguous in its provisions with respect to the rotation of Igweship.
According to him, Mr. Emeka Alison did not accept it as he went ahead with his plans to become the Igwe.
Subsequently, the people of Umu-Agbo and Umu-Ogilieze represented by two persons respectively joined together and took the matter to court and filed a civil suit against the move to breach the constitution.
In spite of this, Alison and his group went on to campaign for Igweship position in an election illegally set up to choose a new Igwe but the two quarters which took the matter to court boycotted the election even as they had earlier instructed their lawyer to file ex parte application to stop the election.
Regrettably, due to court adjournment, the election could not be stopped. Along the line, Chief Stevo who earlier claimed to have been anointed by the elders reportedly withdrew from the race. Alison eventually emerged winner in the election which was described as kangaroic.
Soon as a date was set aside for his coronation, “we instructed our lawyer to seek an interlocutory application either by ex parte or service to stop him but sadly, court adjournment once again made it difficult and he had his way,” Eze explained.
Alison’s purported coronation on September 23, 2026 as Igwe was however said to be devoid of any physical representation of government officials, yet since then he has been parading himself as Igwe with a staff of office.
This has brought some twist to the matter as it leaves the people of Ugwu-Oji Autonomous Community in a state of uncertainty whether the government has subtly made Alison the Igwe when a case is still in court over the matter.
The people have therefore appealed to the Enugu State Governor, His Excellency Peter Mbah to wade into the matter to avoid actions that may trigger off violent clash that could lead to break down of law and order in the community. They insist that since the matter is still in court, it amounts to contempt of court for Emeka Alison to be parading himself as the Igwe.
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