A contemporary wave of stress has gripped Ogwashi-Uku Kingdom in Aniocha South Native Council of Delta State following sturdy condemnation by the Ogwashi-Uku City Union (OTU) of a communiqué issued by a faction of the Ogwashi-Uku Improvement Affiliation (ODA), which accused the normal ruler, His Royal Majesty, Obi Ifechukwude Aninshi Okonjo II, of alleged high-handedness.
The factional ODA group, after a purported city corridor assembly, accused the monarch of directing farmers to hunt palace permission earlier than partaking in farming actions and threatened to declare some quarters and villages within the kingdom as autonomous communities.
However in a strongly worded assertion issued on the weekend, the OTU management dismissed the communiqué as “expired, compromised, and utterly with out authority to talk for the individuals of Ogwashi-Uku,” warning that the tone of the doc was “dangerously provocative,” particularly because the neighborhood ready for its sacred Ineh (New Yam) Pageant, a interval historically dedicated to peace and thanksgiving.
The assertion, signed by OTU Appearing President-Normal Mr Francis Osude and Secretary Mr Nkem Charles, described the communiqué because the handiwork of “self-serving people trying to incite unrest after years of betrayal and land racketeering.”
“The ODA has no capability inside Ogwashi-Uku. Conventional authority in our kingdom rests with His Royal Majesty, Obi (Dr) Ifechukwude Aninshi Okonjo II, and the Obi-in-Council. None of those chiefs or respectable representatives of the individuals participated within the so-called assembly,” the assertion stated.
The OTU additional alleged that a few of the signatories to the communiqué are at present going through severe legal prices.
The union accused the factional group of being behind the fraudulent sale of lots of of acres of communal land value lots of of hundreds of thousands of naira, property which the Obi has since reclaimed by way of court-backed processes.
In response to allegations that farmers should search palace permission to domesticate, the union described the declare as “a deliberate falsehood,” clarifying that the directive solely applies to farmlands inside estates recovered by way of court docket rulings, guaranteeing correct coordination and safety.
“No citizen of Ogwashi-Uku has been stopped from respectable farming. His Majesty encourages all farmers to farm freely and peacefully,” the assertion learn.
