COMMUNITY LEADER PETITIONS ORJI OVER RECOGNITION OF PARALLEL MONARCH

• Theodore Orji
A community leader from Osusu village in Aba North Local Government of Abia State, Sam Azuka has petitioned Governor Theodore Orji over the creation of Osusu autonomous community from Eziama by the state government, saying it was done in bad faith.

Orji on assumption of office as governor of Abia in 2007, placed embargo on the creation of more autonomous communities in the state, which has not been officially lifted. But on September 30, 2011, the state government was said to have created Osusu autonomous community out of the present Eziama and recognized one MacLord Nwachukwu as the traditional ruler, a move the people said was targeted at their traditional ruler, Eze Isaac Ikonne who they said had reigned in the area for 41 years without committing any crime.

In the letter, the community leader stated: 'In the past, people had genuinely agitated or demanded for the creation of autonomous communities and such demands are always a collective decision of the entire village.

'His Excellency, Osusu people did not at any time hold any meeting, neither did they send delegation to you or commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs for the creation of an autonomous community.

Any person that must have gone to you for the purpose of the creation of autonomous community out of Eziama, did not represent the interest of the people. 'The people of Osusu village have lived together for many years, sharing common ancestry, homogeneity, contiguity and affinity that it could not afford to be dragged into an endless crisis by an unpopular government action. The seven villages that were said to have made up the new Osusu community are mere native compounds inhabited by family of two or three brothers.'

He contended that the government's action was capable of throwing the Eziama community in turmoil since Eze Ikonne himself hails from Osusu village and urged the state government to rescind her decision.