There is tension in Umuagwuene, a village in Achara Community, Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, over alleged attempts to dislodge it as the senior of all villages in the traditional seniority ranking.
Rising from a general meeting of the village on Monday, Mr Micheal Ezugwu, the eldest man in Achara Community, who is from Umuagwene village, told journalists in Nsukka that his village is the oldest in the town and would resist any reordering.
He said there was a move to recognise Amaokpu as the oldest in place of Umuagwuene by some people in Achara by some highly placed persons who want Umuagwene ”relegated” to third oldest village in Achara.
Represented by his son, Mr George Ezugwu, he explained that it was due to the superior standing of his village that its village square has been used right from time immemorial for general meetings of Achara Community.
“Umuagwuene is the oldest village in Achara Community, that is why the village square is always used for Achara general meetings and other important activities of the community.
“Even when we are in a gathering or meeting with other communities in Nsukka, it is Umuagwuene Village that takes kolanut on behalf of Achara community.
“It’s unfortunate that some people want to place Amaokpu village as the oldest because the village swore before a deity; seniority is natural and cannot be obtained by taking an oath,” he said.
He urged all Achara people to see one another as brothers and sisters as their forefathers did and avoid anything that could cause crisis in the community.
Also speaking, Chief Aniebonam Ezeugwu, a stakeholder in Umuagwuene, accused Chief Peter Okonkwo, the Commissioner for Local Government Affairs in Enugu State, and also the Chairman of Achara Constitution Review Committee, as the one who relegated Umuagwene to third oldest village in Achara.
Ezeugwu, a former Senior Special Assistant to Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State on Market Matters, said the village was calling on local and state governments to intervene in order to avert the looming crisis the anomaly might cause.
“The people of Umuagwuene are not happy that the Constitution Review Committee deprived them of their natural right as the oldest village in order of seniority in Achara.
“It’s unfortunate that the committee now recognised Amaokpu Village in the constitution as the oldest village in Achara which is unacceptable.
“If this constitution becomes a working document, my village has lost its natural right as the oldest village in Achara Community and it is capable of causing civil unrest.
“I am surprised that someone, who should be a peace builder, is the one promoting rancour and disunity in Achara Community,” he said.
Ezeugwu said that in spite of certified true copy of a document obtained from National Archives that placed Umuagwuene first among eight villages of Achara Community, the committee went ahead to alter the order of seniority in the community.
“Is this document from National Archives not enough to prove that Umuagwuene is the oldest village in Achara Community?” he asked.
However, when contacted, the Commissioner for Local Government Affairs in Enugu State, Chief Peter Okonkwo, said the decision to place Amaokpu as the oldest village and Umuagwuene as the third was not done by the Constitution Drafting Committee members but the entire Achara Community.
He explained that recently, in a general meeting of Achara Community, the two villages contesting seniority were given two weeks to bring one person each from their village to swear before a deity in Achara that they are the senior.
“Amaokpu village brought one person who swore to prove its claim but Umuagwuene could not.
“Thereafter, Achara Community agreed that Amaokpu Village should be placed as the oldest village in Achara.
“You can see that it is the entire community that recognised Amaokpu Village as the oldest village and not the constitution committee,” he said.
Okonkwo said the document from Archives was from colonial administrators on villages that paid taxes in Achara Community.
“Check that document, there is no mention of villages in order of seniority in it,” he said.
The commissioner said Mr Chris Nwangwu, President-General (PG) of Achara Town Union, who is from Umuagwuene Village, could confirm what he said as ‘the truth and nothing but the truth’.
When contacted, Nwangwu, the Achara Community PG, confirmed what Okonkwo said as the truth.
“Amaokpu village swore to prove its claim as the oldest village among the eight villages of Achara whereas my village, Umuagwuene, failed to swear,” he said.
(NAN)