By Dr. Simon Aniobi
The Mburubu Igweship tussle has put the community into the bad side of light. Many people, especially those outside the community rely on rumor mills dished out by one side of the divide.
It has become necessary to state the other side of the coin so that people will understand the real facts behind the avoidable tussle. Some people erroneously believe in lies sold to them. The naked lies are that there are some people in the community that appear to be envious of Ozo Jerry Onuokaibe and therefore do not want his success. This is not true because the majority of people in Mburubu community believe in the principle that when you help raise others, you will equally rise in the process.
HRM Igwe Emmanuel Monyelu Ogbuzulu Ezeh (JP) Ozulumba 1 of Mburubu
The late Igwe Emmanuel M.O. Ezeh was a detribalized king who abhorred all discriminatory practices in his domain. He was a man of integrity, humane, charismatic king who had devoted all his energy and financial resources to champion the development of Mburubu community. In addition, he was a devout Christian of the Catholic faith who encouraged people to always think positively towards the growth of humanity, devoid of segregations as to family of birth. HRM Igwe E.M.O Ezeh ascended the throne of traditional ruler in 1976. He was crowned as the traditional ruler of Mburubu community on July 14, 1976, by the then Military Administrator of East Central State-Col. John Atom Nkpera. He ruled the community for over 53 years on the throne before his death.
1976 constitution of Mburubu autonomous community
Upon his ascendency into the throne, the government of the then East Central State of Nigeria, had a standard rule, which was that all crowned Chiefs (the present day traditional kings or Igwe) must sign a code of conduct to be of good behavior in the discharge of their functions. This was in satisfaction of the provisions of a decree regulating chieftaincy matters in the then East Central State. In the process of fulfilling this obligation, HRM Igwe EMO Ezeh, in conjunction with the community, inserted into the document that “chieftaincy should be done on rotational basis of the choice of the entire community” This code of conduct which later was transmuted to be the “1976 Constitution of Mburubu Autonomous Community” was signed on July 14, 1976, the same date Chief EMO Ezeh (JP) was crowned as the Chief of Mburubu Community.
2003 Mburubu Town Constitution
In the course of his reign as the traditional ruler of the Mburubu community, HRM Igwe EMO Ezeh felt the need to create a better legal framework for the administration of his community. The traditional ruler, in conjunction with the leadership of Mburubu Town Union, Igwe cabinet members, critical stakeholders set out to give the community a more robust enduring legal framework to guide the peaceful administration of the Mburubu community. The intention was to create a strong institution in the form of a Constitution which protects the rich, the poor, man or woman, young or old, without fear of molestation or favour. In the process, the late Igwe in his wisdom felt that rotation of Igweship was not properly defined when he ascended the throne in 1976. He considered it necessary to clarify how rotation of Igweship should be in the future, to avoid rancor. Consequently, it was decided that rotation of the office of Igwe should be in descending order, from senior to junior. He directed that the principle of rotation being in descending order must be a constitutional issue to avoid ambiguity. This was how rotation of Igweship was modified and made a constitutional issue in 2003. The “2003 Mburubu Town Union Constitution” which according to section 2, part one, can be cited as “2003 Mburubu Town Constitution” was approved and adopted by the Mburubu community. Section 6, Part three of the 2003 Mburubu Town Constitution provides that “The office of Igwe shall be filled by rotation amongst the villages making up Mburubu in the order of seniority. Where in accordance with the said order, the incumbent Igwe vacates his office, the succeeding Igwe shall be elected from the next village in the order above”
In a comprehensive approach, the offices of President-General of Mburubu Town Union and national executives were equally made rotational among the component villages that make up the community. In addition, the office of Mburubu Ward 1 councilor was made rotational among the villages that make up the community. The main purpose for making these three important positions a constitutional issue was to ensure that every village has a sense of belonging, achieve equity, justice, fairness, peaceful co-existence and a conducive environment for development.
The Mburubu in its annual General Meeting held on December 27, 2004, decided that the 2003 Mburubu Town Constitution be registered with the Enugu State Government. It should be noted that the Igwe, Cabinet chiefs, all the leadership organs in the community and everyone in the community without any objections supported the registration of 2003 constitution with the Enugu State Government. Accordingly, an application for the registration of Mburubu Town Union alongside the 2003 Mburubu Town Constitution was sent to the Enugu State Government through the office of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Chieftaincy Affairs. This culminated into the Registration of Mburubu Town Union as indicated on the Certificate of Registration No. ENS/HDPR/TV/C11 dated May 16, 2005.
Indeed, the 2003 Mburubu Town Constitution has been in use for the past 22 (twenty two) years. It has been used to successfully conduct elections into the offices of the President-General and other national executive offices of the Town Union. It has also been deployed to successfully select candidates to vie for the position of councillorship in the Ward level at Nkanu East Local Government Area.
Sudden death of HRM Igwe EMO Ezeh
On December 21, 2021, the cold hand of death snatched away the amiable, peace-loving, trustworthy, charismatic and oldest traditional king in Enugu State- HRM Igwe EMO Ezeh, Ozulumba 1 of Mburubu. Every mortal must definitely pass through that road. Like the locals will say in Igbo proverb “Igwe nine gaje nuzo” which translates to mean all metals must pass through the furnace. It was a devastating news to the entire Mburubu community. However, a decision was taken that the community will accord their departed Igwe utmost respect by mourning him or two years before processes of his replacement could begin.
Emergence of Mburubu General Assembly
Suddenly, some group of Mburubu sons gathered themselves to form what became a parallel government to Mburubu Town Union. This group of people called the new association “Mburubu General Assembly (MGA)”. It was later gathered that the sole purpose for the formation of MGA was to elect or select a new traditional king for the community which was a clear usurpation of the functional roles legally assigned to the President-General of Mburubu Town Union and his national executives as enshrined in the 2003 Mburubu Town constitution. This group of people was led by Mr. Hyginus Nwachukwu as Chairman and Mr. Obinna Okonkwo as Secretary.
This faceless group gathered themselves at the village square of November 4, 2023 and purportedly declared that they have elected Ozo Jerry Patrick Onuokaibe as Mburubu Igwe-elect. The same group, went ahead to present Ozo Jerry Patrick Onuokaibe to the Executive Chairman of Nkanu East Local Government Area. This was the height of their madness. They had embarked on a destructive journey to create a crisis in the community. The actions of the MGA set in motion other chains of actions and reactions that led to an unfortunate Mburubu Igweship impasse as currently being experienced. Unfortunately, Ozo Jerry Patrick Onuokaibe became so obsessed and fixated with the inordinate ambition to become the traditional ruler of the community at all costs, against the existing constitutional arrangement in the community.
The real facts behind the impasse
i. Ozo Jerry Patrick Onuokaibe wants to be the Mburubu traditional ruler at all costs. He has used money to buy some unconscionable elders to jettison the provisions of the 2003 Mburubu Town constitution.
ii. Large segments of the Mburubu community with conscience have refused to join some of the gullible elders to destroy the 2003 Mburubu Town Constitution. This constitution has helped to achieve peace and stability in the community in the past twenty two (22) years. But Ozo Jerry Onuokaibe and his co-travelers are hell bent on destroying the thread that has held the community together so that it could fall apart.
iii. The refusal of many people with conscience to join the destructive group of people to make Jerry Onuokaibe Igwe Mburubu made the Igweship impasse inevitable.
iv. The large segment of Mburubu community insist that the next Igwe to replace the late Igwe EMO Ezeh must come from Uhuegbe village being the next most senior village after Umudara village where the late Igwe EMO Eze came from, as clearly provided in the 2003 Mburubu Town Constitution. The community does not want to sell the Igwe stool to the highest bidder but to follow the constitution. That Ozo Jerry and cohorts are only objecting to the 2003 Mburubu constitution because it does not serve their ambition to become Igwe Mburubu.
v. As a matter of fact, Ozo Jerry Onuokaibe is from Umunafor village, being the 5th village in the order of seniority. One begins to wonder how a person in the 5th position will take kolanut before his seniors. In Igbo culture, it is a taboo and premised on the 2003 Mburubu Town Union Constitution, it is an aberration.
vi. Unfortunately, some elders who were part and parcel of the making of the 2003 Mburubu Town Constitution have abandoned the same document and joined Jerry Onuokaibe to sow seeds of discord. Some of these elders have allowed hunger to rule their senses of reasoning. These are unconscionable elders who are in the house but allowed goat to deliver babies while in tithers. In local parlance, such elders are described in Igbo language as “Okenye alulu ani” which translates to mean unconscionable elders that pervade injustice and enthrone segregations, divisions, and crisis in a community. Unfortunately, they are corrupting the unintelligent and gullible youths who are mortgaging their future.
vii. In addition, the so-called Mburubu General Assembly threw up another document called “2013 Mburubu constitution” to support their nefarious actions. It was part of the document being used to deceive gullible elders and youths in the community. They claimed that the document empowered them to elect a new Mburubu traditional king.
viii. Meanwhile, the 2003 Mburubu Town Constitution and 2013 Mburubu Constitution were already before the Enugu High Court to determine which of the two constitutions: 2003 or 2013 qualify as a legally acceptable authentic constitution of Mburubu Community.
ix. An Enugu High Court, in November 2023 delivered its judgment and affirmed that 2003 Mburubu Town Union Constitution is the authentic acceptable constitution of the Mburubu community. The above judgment made the purported 2013 constitution null and void and has no legal bearings on the affairs of Mburubu community.
x. Meanwhile, the Mburubu General Assembly disregarded the judgment and throng on with their actions to foment trouble in the community.
xi. Furthermore, the insistence of Ozo Jerry Onuokaibe to, not only parade himself as Igwe-Elect but as substantive Igwe, became another strategy to heat up the Mburubu igweship political landscape.
xii. At a stage, the Hon Commissioner for Local Government, Rural Development and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon Deacon Okey Ogbodo ordered that all the billboards of Igwe-elect that bore the photographs of Ozo Jerry Onuokaibe should be dismantled immediately, failure of which will risk 2 years imprisonment.
xiii. This directive made no impact on him. Instead, he went further to organize shenanigans new yam festival in his compound, purportedly, claiming he was the traditional king of the Mburubu community, just to heat up the system.
xiv. Other pronouncements made on February 7, 2024 by the Hon Commissioner for Local Government, Rural Development and Chieftaincy Affairs include:
a) That Mburubu community should complete the mourning period of the late Igwe for 2 years which was expected to end on April 21, 2024.
b) That no person (all aspirants) should be addressed as Mburubu Igwe-elect because the processes for election had not started.
c) That only the President-General of Mburubu Town Union, has the legal functional roles to drive the processes of electing and presenting the new Igwe for Mburubu community.
d) That there exist 1976 constitution of Mburubu autonomous community in Enugu State gazette and therefore, the ministry shall make use of the 1976 constitution to supervise the processes of electing or selecting new Igwe for Mburubu community.
xv. It was the introduction of an unknown 1976 constitution of Mburubu autonomous community and exclusion of the generally known and acceptable 2003 Mburubu constitution by the Ministry that compelled the national executive of Mburubu Town Union and the cabinet chiefs, to seek redress in Enugu High Court. The purpose of the court action was to determine which of the two Mburubu constitutions: 1976 or 2003 shall be used in the conduct of election processes to get a new traditional ruler for the community.
Enugu State High Court
In a suit No. HAMA/1/2024 instituted at the High Court of Enugu State, the national executive council of Mburubu Town Union, the Prime Minister or Onowu of Igwe cabinet, and one of the aspirants, High Chief Linus Igbudu from Uhuegbe village, as plaintiffs sued the executive of the so-called Mburubu General Assembly, the purported Igwe-elect Ozo Jerry Onuokaibe, the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Chieftaincy Affairs, Ministry of Justice of Enugu state, as defendants.
xvi. Judgment was entered in favour of the plaintiffs. Delivering judgment on the matter on February 12, 2025, His Lordship Hon. Justice C. O. Ajah Ph.D. ordered amongst others as follows:
1. That the Mburubu Town Union national executives has the functional legal roles to conduct elections into the office of Igwe Mburubu.
2. That Mburubu General Assembly was faceless, non-existing body, not legally recognized Mburubu Town Union and therefore has no functional roles in the selection, screening, election and presentation of Igwe Elect of Mburubu Town Union under the constitution of Mburubu Town Union 2003.
3. That the Mburubu General Assembly constitute themselves into unknown and unrecognized Mburubu Town Union to purport to have elected and presented Ozo Jerry Onuokaibe as Igwe elect of Mburubu town and that such actions amount to subversion of the provisions of the constitution of Mburubu Town Union 2003 or 1976 constitution, therefore their actions are null and void and has no legal effect.
4. That Ozo Jerry Onuokaibe having not come from Uhuegbe village, being the next senior village to produce the Igwe in line with the 2003 Mburubu Constitution is not qualified to contest for the Igweship of Mburubu Town.
5. That any purported election and presentation of Ozo Jerry Onuokaike by the self-acclaimed Mburubu General Assembly constitute an act ultravires the powers of the national executive council of Mburubu Town Union and an unholy usurpation of the powers of the plaintiffs is hereby set aside.
6. That the process of election of the Igwe Mburubu community under 1976 constitution commenced by rotation from the eldest village being Umudara village which produced HRH Igwe EMO Ezeh.
7. That having commenced the rotation of Igwe Mburubu under the 1976 constitution from Umudara village being the eldest, the next Igwe Mburubu shall come by rotation from the next eldest village being Uhuegbe village where High Chief Linus Igbudu come from.
8. That the Ministry of Local government. Rural development and chieftaincy affairs and Ministry of justice, Enugu state shall only recognize an Igwe elect from the second eldest village being Uhuegbe village in line with either the 1976 constitution of Mburubu Autonomous community or 2003 amended constitution of Mburubu Town Union.
9. That Ozo Jerry Onuokaibe is hereby restrained from parading himself or holding himself as the Igwe elect of Mburubu Town.
10. The High Court ordered that the election into Mburubu Igweship be conducted within 21 days of the judgment.
11. Finally, the Court ordered the defendants to pay N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) only for the embarrassment they caused the plaintiffs.
New Igweship election scheduled for February 28, 2025
The Hon Commissioner for Local Government, Rural Development and Chieftaincy Affairs held another round of meeting with Mburubu stakeholders on February 24, 2025. The purpose of the meeting was to inform all critical Mburubu stakeholders of the judgment of the Enugu State High and to schedule a date for the election of Igwe Mburubu. Consequently, February 28, 2025 was jointly fixed for the election of the new Igwe of Mburubu community. All arrangements were made and everyone concerned with the exercise was communicated. The Mburubu community set the required venue for the exercise which was at the community primary school Mburubu. People were peacefully sitting, awaiting the arrival of government functionaries that have supervisory roles. However, the election could not proceed because of an interim injunction to stop the election granted by Hon Justice R. O. Odugu of the Enugu State High Court.
Jerry Onuokaibe organized attack on perceived enemies
Surprisingly, Ozo Jerry Onuokaibe went berserk. He, not only organized armed youths, hired mercenaries and hoodlums but personally led them to attack perceived enemies. They injured defenseless individuals and destroyed people’s properties, ranging from canopies, plastic chairs and individual shops and goods. People were taken aback. The question in the lips of some people are: Is this the character of someone who aspired to become a traditional ruler of a community? Has he become the reincarnation of another terrorist warrant chiefs of the colonial era? What becomes of the community if the likes of Ozo Jerry Onuokaibe becomes the traditional ruler?
The stand of the community
The Mburubu community insists on building, sustaining and protecting strong institutions which the 2003 Mburubu Town Union Constitution represents. The community never wanted to build strong individual because strong individual develop into wicked oppressive leader. A strong institution protects everyone whether rich, poor, man, woman, young or old. Strong institutions advance the cause of equity, justice, and fair play. A strong institution is nondiscriminatory in practice, does not segregate, but encourages equal rights and protects the weak, the poor and the vulnerable from the suppressive and oppressive tendencies of the mighty and strong individuals. As a matter of fact, strong individuals do the opposite of what a strong institution does.
It is because of this instance to sustain a strong institution as against a strong individual that perched Jerry Onuokaibe and his cohorts with the larger segment of the community. Jerry Onuokaibe and his cohorts want to destroy the constitution of Mburubu but the rest of the community fears that the consequences will be much in the long run. This is why the Mburubu Igweship tussle continued to linger. The community does not want to destroy its constitution that has helped sustain peace and stability for the past 22 years at the altar of the inordinate ambition of one man. The community is calling on the Enugu State Government to intervene and rescue her from the claws of a little clique of individuals that want to destroy the fabrics of peace and stability in the town.
• By High Chief Dr. Simon Aniobi FCA, Ozo Obata Obie 1 of Mburubu, member of Igwe cabinet.
