Editor’s Note: The Okija shrine in Anambra state which became infamous when the Nigeria police raided it on August 5, 2004 has become embroiled in another controversy when its adherents invaded the Ukwunzu, an agrarian community in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State in September. Naij.com’s Austin Oyibode investigated a dispute involving the state Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Urban Development, Dan Okenyi.
Investigations by NAIJ.com indicate that the younger brother of the commissioner, Sunday Okenyi, allegedly imported the shrine from Anambra state to the village.
His objective, it was learnt, was to attack an individual who posted alleged fake news against his elder brother, the Commissioner, with the intent of rubbishing him before the state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa.
The post was made following an allegation that the commissioner was part of a plot to frustrate the moves of the community development union to kick against some perceived obnoxious action of the community monarch, Obi Christopher Ogoh 1.
Okija shrine
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Our correspondent learnt that at the early hours of the fateful day, a report emerged from Facebook which was allegedly aimed at painting the commissioner in bad light before the people of the state.
According to the post, Dan Okenyi was said to have imported thugs and police to invade the community with the aim of dealing deadly blows on the president of the community development union, Ike Uwagwu, and his executives should they fail to accept the outcome of a meeting with the traditional ruler of the community, Christopher Ogoh 1.
Further investigations revealed that the post called Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to look at people whom he appointed to work as members of his cabinet.
This, it was further revealed, infuriated the commissioner’s younger brother, Sunday Okenyi, who felt aggrieved that perceived enemies of his brother were out to spoil the political career of the commissioner before the governor of the state. The poster was not known as at the time the report emerged on Facebook.
But in a bid to save the image of his brother, he resorted to import Okija shrine in Anambra State as strategy to compel the poster of the allegedly false story from the village, as it was believed the poster must be a member of the community.
According to the community monarch, as early as 7am, the visitors from Okija shrine landed the community with the shrine, sending shivers down the spine of the dwellers of the community tucked away in the upland area of Delta State.
But following the threat from the junior Okenyi and the fear of Okija shrine, as early as 5am the Obi said the family members of one Kaikene Okolie stormed his palace, informing him to plead with Sunday Okenyi to temper justice with mercy, noting that a member of their family, Kaikene, a supervising councilor in the local government, had owned up claiming he was responsible for the scandalous post on facebook.
With the knowledge of the facebook poster, the Obi approached the Okija team to take the shrine to the center of the community where he would appeal to them to temper justice with mercy as the Facebook poster has confessed to the crime against Okenyi.
He told NAIJ.com in his palace that the grievance of the team was predicated on the fact that Dan Okenyi was former Clerk of the Delta State House of Assembly but the activities of a group which also included this Kaikene led to the sack of Okenyi from being clerk in 2003.
Okija shrine
Against allegations making the round that the commissioner with one Emma Eboh, former commissioner for works, imported thugs into the community to threaten and possibly unleash mayhem on the community development union members, the monarch said nobody planned to unleash mayhem on development union members.
He said “when you look at this thing very well, does it mean that I invited them to my palace to kill them? How can I invite people here to kill them? There is no truth about that, they only want to say what will suit the errors they have committed”.
He also exonerated Dan Okenyi and Emma Eboh from involvement in the Okija shrine. He affirmed that it was Okenyi’s younger brother, Sunday, that rose to the defense his elder brother and went to Okija shrine to seek solace for the injury allegedly being caused to the commissioner.
According to the monarch, Kaikene Okolie, who confessed to have written the post on Facebook against Okenyi was also one of the persons who conspired against Dan Okenyi in 2003 which led to Okenyi being sacked from office of the clerk of the Delta State House of Assembly.
And as Okenyi has been employed by the Okowa’s government, the same people are still plotting to bring him down, hence his younger brother took the gauntlet to fight and save the job of his elder brother.
Obi of Ukwunzu, HRM Christopher Ogoh 1
The royal father said Commissioner Okenyi is a knight of the Anglican Communion and being a religious man he cannot be involved in fetish and idolatrous practices. “The junior brother of Dan did the whole thing about Okija shrine. Kaikene contributed to the removal of Okenyi from the office of Clerk of the House of Assembly in 2003. Now he has come out again to castigate Dan with bitter words on face book.
“But when Dan’s brother went to bring the juju he was not aware that it was Kaikene that posted the false story on facebook. It was when he brought the juju that Kaikene came out to avoid being hurt”.
He added that Emma Eboh only came to attend the meeting in the palace being indigenes of the community, hence “the allegation of arranging police and thugs against them by Okenyi and Eboh is a black lie. They didn’t do that. Ask anybody who was here whether there was any form of molestation in this place”.
He traced the origin of the crisis rocking the community to the discovery of lignite and kaolin in the area in April 2016. He told NAIJ.com in his palace that a group of Geologists came to the community and demanded for permission to explore the lignite in the area.
He said the explorers came to the community from India and Canada, hence he called the union president, Ike Uwagwu, to discuss the way forward.
But the union members turned down the invitation on the strength that they must constitute the committee members that will liaise with the investors before participating in the meeting summoned by the monarch.
Following the failure of the union members to honour the invitation on three occasions, the community youths passed vote of no confidence on them and voted them out of office.
The development, he said, led to the dissolution of the union as it was the handiwork of the community members not the Obi. He said the youths were aggrieved because the union members failed to honour the traditional ruler’s invitation on three occasions.
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But Ike Uwagwu, the president general of the development union, has a different story to tell. According to him, his failure to attend the meeting summoned by the Obi was to save his life.
He told NAIJ.com in Issele Uku that he had driven his car close to the community when he was called by a concerned fellow. He said “as I was going to Ukwunzu I received a call from somebody asking me where are you, I said I am going to Ukwunzu, he said I should come back.
Ukwunzu village
“Three men came to approach me and said there are plans to deal with you there. Even if it is death you will die today, yourself and Kaikene. There is a serious plot against two of you perpetuated by Obi and his generals. People are sponsoring the plot. So, please, come back. Then I reversed my car and came back to Issele Uku and didn’t go again”.
He said at the meeting, “different people were there, non-indigenes, people they hired to unleash mayhem on us. The person who told me was privileged to hear about the plot. One of the persons they approached leaked it to him. He said he has been calling me but my line was not going, he now called somebody else who now got me”.
He added that some other persons called him at the meeting but he turned down their plea to come over to the meeting having got knowledge of the plot against him and his executive members.
At the end of the meeting “when they came back, they shook hands with me and said that God that guided you will keep you. These are different persons that came to acknowledge my not coming for the meeting. They said there would have been bloodshed. There was a serious plot against you, Kaikene and whoever challenged what they wanted on ground”.
Although from his explanation, it was clear that the crisis was occasioned by the disagreement in constituting the committee to liaise with the explorers, the union members’ stance which was contrary to the desire of the monarch, sparked the fire and is the leading cause of the chaos and the cold war in the area.
According to findings, the crisis tearing the community apart actually began at the point of choosing community members to constitute a committee to liaise with the investors, prepare the memorandum of understanding and work out modalities for the investors to begin the process of mining the coal and the kaolin in the area.
Dan Okenyi, Delta State Commissioner for Lands and Survey
Uwagwu accused the monarch of attempting to monopolize and hijack the process of the selection while the Obi intended introducing people whom he trusted could work to deliver the community.
However, the president general is of the view that development issues as this are basically handled by community development unions in collaboration with the community leader but not the community leader usurping the authority of the union members and imposing committee members on the union executives.
On the allegation of Dan Okenyi, the state commissioner for lands and survey and Emma Eboh, former commissioner for works, arranging thugs and police against him, Uwagwu said there is no smoke without fire. He alleged that they were part of the plot to deal deadly blows on him.
He said rather than sitting down and dialogue the way forward, they went to Okija shrine to destroy the perceived enemies of Okenyi.
According to him, a report emerged online which tended to smear Okenyi and dent his image. He said he had no knowledge of the writer but left for him he would do worse than what the writer did. He said he was asked to save his life and pull off the matter but he said he has the interest of his community at heart, hence he cannot surrender.
For him now, “there is a cold but serious war in the community. It’s just that it has not come out openly but there is war. There is crisis. Very soon it will manifest. Until they decide to do the right thing. Like I told them, you can’t chase me out, I’m the son of the soil by all standard. I have contributed to the development of the community so I remain in the community”.
He explained that he was reliably informed that thugs and police were at the venue of the meeting waiting to unleash mayhem on him and his men should they disagree with the decision that would be reached at the meeting.
He said the community chiefs have continued to convince the foreign investors that there was no problem but noted that “the white men are no fools, let them do their investment by the time the crisis will start, they will not be able to bear it”.
He added that at present, the community is in turmoil, insisting that anybody who thinks it is well in the community such a one is living in a fool’s paradise.
The facebook poster, Kaikene Okolie, who was unwilling to comment, however, said he has no issues with the younger brother of Okenyi, but his issue is with the commissioner. “I don’t have issues with Sunday Okenyi, it is his elder brother, Dan, that I have issues with. If I have issues with you, it is you I know and not anybody else”.
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He said though he was not tortured at the Okija shrine, he was asked questions and told to pay N25m and four cows to be free, but noted that that was not going to be.
When contacted, Emma Eboh told NAIJ.com that he was unaware of the issue raised but rather, in a text message, directed our correspondent to the police commissioner to inquire if he ever sought the assistance of police force to intimidate anybody in the village. But Dan Okenyi never picked calls nor respond to text messages made to his phone.
Ikechukwu Okonkwo, one of the youth leaders in the community
One of the youth leaders who moved the motion for the dissolution of the union, Ikechukwu Okonkwo, also exonerated Dan Okenyi and Emma Eboh from the issue surrounding the crisis in the community. For him, the duo came to the community to witness the event of the day.
He accused the union members of trying to pocket the Obi and bring the community members under their subjection.
He accused them of looking for their personal gain and not the interest of the community. He also refuted allegations that Dan Okenyi and Emma Eboh brought police and thugs to intimidate and harass the union members. “They are looking for their personal interest. They want to bring calamity to this community. All the youths were present, there was no fighting there.
“The dissolution of the union has nothing to do with Okenyi and Eboh. It is the youths that did it. Nobody brought police to the community. They want to rule the Obi in council. Their annoyance is that the gods of this land have spoilt their plans. The whole community passed no confidence vote on them and they were dissolved”, Okonkwo said.
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