Enugu Community Engages Reverse Gear,
AGUNESE is an autonomous community consisting of six villages, but despite its “independence,” it still bears the scars of social neglect as evidenced by scant infrastructure and social amenities.
Breaking away from Enugu to the Port Harcourt Expressway, the tarred road leading into the community suddenly ends midstream. From there, a narrow, windy, gravelladen road that snakes through hills and valleys takes over. The rough nature of the road, as well as the steep gradient, explains why journeying into the community is a Herculean task.
Transporters that are familiar with the terrain, consider N30,000 a fair enough price for a trip from Ogui Junction Roundabout in Enugu metropolis to Agunese. And the fare they announce with a take- it- or- leave- it brashness.
Even though the community appears calm, quiet, and peaceful from the exterior, underneath it, self- help development efforts embarked upon by a group of young business owners residing in Lagos, Onitsha, Abuja, and other parts within and outside the country, have to put them at loggerheads with the traditional ruler, Igwe Cyprian Maduabuchi Nevobasi, who presides over the affairs of the community from far away South Africa.
Worried by the threadbare and backward nature of their community compared to the developed cities in which they reside and ply their trades, these sons and daughters of Agunese decided to volunteer funds to embark on development projects that would impact education, and rural roads, as well as improve potable water supply, and electricity among others.
From the funds gathered through free- will donations, the young men and women gave a befitting face- lift to the Model Secondary School, Maku; opened up inter- village roads, particularly the 10- kilometre Aja Road, 12kilometre Isiota Ring Road, and five- kilometre Akpakanche Road.
The Aja Road project was well received by the masses because it led to the stream, which serves as the major source of water for residents of the six villages. Based on the achievements of these young people, particularly the prudent and accountable manner, in which the construction project was handled, the people started asking questions about the N5m rural development counterpart funds from the state government.
However, as donations continued to pour into the special development accounts, the people resolved to change the leadership of the town union, which they accused of nonperformance and unaccountable. The change of administration was planned for the end of the tenure of the then President General ( PG), Mr. Laz Udeh.
However, on December 30, 2021, which the community had set aside for the election of new town union leaders, a sudden twist emerged. Igwe Nevobasi, who saw Udeh as a surrogate decided to abort the election, even as four out of the six villages that make up Agunese alleged that Udeh was Nevobasi’s lackey and “personal assistant.”
They further alleged that all monies accruing to the community from the state government, including the N5m monthly contingency fund could not be accounted for.
Some villagers told The Guardian that on the day of the election after delegates from the six villages, namely:, Enugu Affam,
Uhuoghe, Ibite Agbo, Ibite Ugwu, and Eziajanu, had gathered at the community town hall for the exercise, Igwe Nevobasi stormed the venue, just when the member representing the community in the Enugu State House of Assembly, Mr. Jonathan Chukwuobasi, was commending the delegates for their peaceful and exemplary conduct.
But no sooner had the lawmaker ended his remarks than Igwe Nevobasi announced the suspension of the election, claiming that he received a signal from security agencies that the election should be put off to avoid a replay of violence that broke out in a neighbouring community during a similar town union election.
Expectedly, the monarch’s declaration, generated a serious uproar, as the people insisted that there was no threat to peace, or was there any violence witnessed during the entire exercise.
They, however, maintained peace after the monarch asked all and sundry to come back in three days within which a decision on the matter would have been taken.
Surprisingly, on the third day, instead of the election taking place, the traditional ruler announced the setting up of a caretaker committee headed by Udeh, whose tenure had elapsed.
To perpetuate the illegality, Igwe Nevobasi wrote petitioned the Enugu State Command of the Department of State Services ( DSS) alleging that some indigenes of the community, who invariably were the ones bankrolling the developmental projects in Agunese were unleashing unknown gunmen in the community.
When challenged by the lawmaker, both the Divisional Police Officer and DSS denied that they made any call to the monarch regarding the cancellation of the town union election.
Ever since the town union election was botched, Agunese community has remained in a state of perplexity. The development projects have been stalled because the monarch allegedly instigated the arrest and detention of members of the 16member Way Forward Committee that was overseeing the developmental projects in the community.
When The Guardian visited the community, the ongoing school renovation projects and road construction had stalled, even as the people pleaded with the monarch to withdraw his involvement in the town union affairs, and concentrate on the traditional governance institution.
One of the aspirants for the post of president- general in the botched December 30, 2021 election, Mr. Simeon Okeke, told The Guardian that the community had never been associated with violence of any sort before the petition by Igwe Nevobasi to security agencies.
“The crises in our town were initiated after 16 young men, having seen that things were not moving smoothly in our town, came together, and decided to explore ways of moving the town forward,” Okeke recalled.
“They pledged to contribute the sum of N6m with which they commenced the process of putting things right. This did not go down well with the Igwe, who swore to deal decisively with them. In a voice note leaked from the palace, the monarch said that if the young men mustered the courage to contribute the N6m, he would put down N16m and make sure that he deals with those who contributed the amount. He added that if they raise
N15, he would double the sum, or even move it up to N100m if the need arose.
“Then, on December 30, 2021, when the traditional ruler saw that he could not install a new town union executive, he came up with the excuse that the DSS informed him that there were security issues in our town. … What happened is that the Igwe wants to be a paramount ruler. We scheduled a town union election because everybody knew that the previous president- general was functioning as the Igwe’s PA. As a matter of fact, and from what I understand, Igwe is a signatory to the town union’s account, and he gets the alert for every dime that comes in.”
However, “when the Igwe came to address us, he told us that what he was going to say was not going to be palatable for many people. He said that the election was no more holding because the DSS and the Commissioner for Rural Development called him and told him that the election would not hold. But there was no letter to the outgoing president general, Udeh, who was supposed to be organising the town union election. There was absolutely no information whatsoever. At least, they didn’t make that known to us.
“Fortunately, we let our people know that it was an internal election just to develop our town because the people were yearning to develop the town and the status quo was no more acceptable, especially as we had lost confidence in the past executive, hence their crave for a trustworthy executive.”
Hinging Igwe’s interference in the demand for accountability on the town union leaders, Okeke stated: “In the 2020 yearly meeting, the issue was raised, but Mr. Laz Ude could not render an account. A year before that, people wanted to impeach him at the December 30, 2020, yearly meeting, while
Ever since the Town Union election was botched, Agunese community has remained in a state of perplexity. The development projects have been stalled, because the Igwe allegedly instigated the arrest and detention of members of the 16- member Way Forward Committee overseeing the self- help development projects in the community.
many others also talked to him individually so that he could render the union’s account and clear his name, but he never did it until the last day. All he kept saying was that he would handle it.”
Prince Linus Okoli, another stakeholder, in Agunese, who spoke to The Guardian corroborated Okeke’s claims, stressing that when the Igwe made allusions to impending violence that could break out as was the case in a neighbouring village, they were quick to point out to him that nothing on ground buttressed his claims.
“We told him there was no crisis within Agunese, and that the returning officers, contestants and all those involved in the process were ready, and we believed that it will be the freest and fairest election. But, when he went ahead to make that pronouncement, everybody was surprised. When the boys wanted to protest, he asked them to give him 72 hours. That was how frayed nerves were calmed and people started going home one after the other.
“But beforem you knew what was happening. The Igwe had started appointing people on his own into a so- called caretaker committee, each from the six villages in Agunese. A lot of questions were asked, as we found his action to be highly unacceptable. When we called for a general meeting to know the reason behind his actions, he claimed that he saw some uniform men and unknown gunmen. Interestingly, some of those that he described as unknown gunmen, were some of our boys that kicked against his compilation of names of members of the caretaker committee from his bedroom.
“All we’ve been saying, which we will continue to say is that, if you want to have a caretaker committee in place, each of the six villages should be asked to nominate a representative each. That is the way it is supposed to be. But what is currently going on now in Agunese, where the Igwe is handling everything his way is uncalled for; it’s unacceptable because he has no business in the town union,” Okoli said.
On steps to take to resolve the smouldering crisis, Okoli said the Igwe should steer clear of town union issues because he has no business with the town union.
“But after the election, the presiding officers will present those elected to the Igwe. However, it should be pointed out that in the first and second meetings that we had, the Igwe didn’t mention soldiers and any unknown gunmen until the third meeting.
Our people insist that he must withdraw that petition immediately,” Okoli said.
On his part, Chukwuobasi, said that before the recent events, many people were not interested in how the town union was being run, and who ran it, “but some of our people that have been contributing to charitable causes, and philanthropic gestures, felt the need to know how the entire process was being managed, including the handling of their support for indigent students, etc.
“So, that was how many people became interested in the town union election. The entire exercise was so intense, and the Igwe also became interested. The remote cause of this current problem is the town union’s election, while the immediate cause is the involvement of the police and petitions to the DSS and others, which alleged that some of those people who became interested in the town union were members and sponsors of the ESN and IPOB, which, I don’t think was necessary at that point in time,” Chukwuobasi said.
The lawmaker explained that by law, the traditional ruler has no role to play in the election of the town union executives, since it is a democratic process that will produce leaders for the next four years.
When contacted, the traditional ruler, Igwe Nevobasi, told The Guardian on the phone that even though the town’s constitution did not allocate him any role in the town union affairs, he believed that as the chief security officer of the community, he did
the right thing by petitioning the security agencies.
“I wrote a petition to all the relevant security agencies in Nigeria because I need to know who brought those people in military fatigue and with guns to the community. I need to know.
“Is it bad that the Igwe said that people should go and answer for bringing unknown gunmen to his community? Assuming they killed somebody on December 30, 2021, do you know that I would have been arrested?
The crisis in our town was initiated after 16 young men, having seen that things were not moving smoothly in our town, came together, and decided to explore ways of moving the town forward,” Okeke recalled.
“The 16 people that are making a huge noise about all these are those that were contributing money on the platform. However, I never knew that they were contributing money, but I saw their names on the platform contributing money. Having said that, you know that 16 people do not make up the entire community.
“So, for me, these 16 people must go and answer to the police; tell them why they brought in the gunmen. That is my argument, and that is all that I am asking for, it is not too much. I am asking them to go and explain to the security agencies, who these gunmen are.
“What made me postpone the election is what I have told you now, they brought people with guns to the community for the election, I postponed the election. They should just go to the police and explain themselves,” he stated.