UMAHISM: GOVERNANCE AS AN INSTRUMENT OF PEACE
Before his glorious transition in 1226, St. Francis of Assissi who founded the Franciscan order prayed: "Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace! That where there is hatred, I may sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy ..." Unfolding events in Ebonyi state which culminated in the signing of a peace pact between the hitherto warring Ezillo and Ezza-Ezillo communities of Ishielu Local Government Area and the grant of autonomous status to Ezza-Ezillo community show that even though Saint Francis, the maker of the opening prayer of this piece, died 791 years ago, it has pleased God in His infinite wisdom, mercy, power and humongous love for Ebonyians to reincarnate Saint Francis in the present Governor of Ebonyi state, His Excellency, Deacon David Nweze Umahi!
At this point, it is pertinent to ask; What were the remote and immediate causes of Ezillo and Ezza-Ezillo war? The answers lie down the memory lane:
Ezza Ezekuna people who remain the largest single family unit in Nigeria have their ancestral home in Onueke - Ebonyi state even though strong biblical, ethnographic and socio-cultural evidences prove that Ezza Ezekuna people are descendants of Gad, the son of Jacob otherwise known as Israel! For instance, just like Israel, Ezza Ezekuna is made up of twelve tribes. In 1st Chronicles 12:9, Ezza [Ezer] Ezekuna people were ranked first among the tribes that helped David in the wilderness of Ziklag to overcome King Saul's army. The description of Ezza [Ezer] warriors in 1st Chronicles 12:8 as "mighty men of valour, ... whose faces were like faces of lions, and who were as swift as gazelles on the mountains" is apt even for past and present generations of Ezza Ezekuna people. That Ezza Ezekuna people live in great numbers in all the senatorial districts of Ebonyi state; and in Enugu, Benue, Ondo, Crossriver, Anambra, Lagos and other states without any history of aggressive invasion is a direct result of the investment of their great energy and valour into lawful industry and the protection/defence of their weak brothers and neighbours. History is replete with evidences that most of the host communities of Ezza people invited them to help ward off external incursions in consideration of perpetual rights over parcels of the saved land. This is why one finds Diaspora Ezza communities mainly in boundary areas where they serve as shield to the host communities like Effium/Benue, Inyaba/Nkerrefi, Ezillo/Ngbo and boarder areas like Nkwubor, Eha-Amufu, Umuhuali etcetera. It suffices that the establishment of Ezza communities in the Diaspora has always been by consensus ad idem ! That Ezza Ezekuna people supported the bid and eventual grant of autonomous community status to Amuda people who live in Ezza North proves that Ezza are warm people.
Ezillo and Ezza-Ezillo communities [and indeed the respective Ezza Ezekuna communities in the Diaspora and their hosts in Ebonyi state] lived together in peace and harmony until 2001 when some elites drawn from the ilk of the hosts of Ezza in the Diaspora [Igboessa, Ntezi, Umuhuali, Ezillo and Effium] formed an association known as INUE overlords which primary aim was to resent and repel the progress of Ezza Ezekuna people in the respective Diaspora communities. Using the cabal that held sway in Ebonyi State Government House, they effectively opposed and frustrated all proposals or exercises that had any benefits to Ezza Ezekuna people even when the proposals/programs had over-riding benefits for the entire state! Thus, voter registration and population census logistics were manipulated to diminish Ezza Ezekuna strength. In Effium [and elsewhere] Ezza Ezekuna people were not allowed to have autonomous communities even when they were more than qualified for it or to take their turn in the traditional stool even when the pioneer traditional ruler of Effium was an Ezza man - Ezeogo Ekuma Omaka; Ezza voters were not allowed to register "in the nearest registration centres" or vote at the nearest polling units as specified by the Electoral Act because electoral wards in Effium are demarcated by blood and not geographical boundaries, hence they bear kindred names. All these led to the communal conflict in which hundreds of lives were lost in Effium in 2002. It is instructive that the judicial panel of inquiry into the conflict which was enpanelled by Dr. Sam Egwu indicted innocent and promising Ezza elites and exonerated Effium indigenes including those who brazenly descended into the arena of the conflict. Ebonyi State Government's white paper on Effium conflict apparently "amended" the 1999 CFRN to deny Ezzas in Effium community basic rights guaranteed by the constitution! As I write this piece, it is a crime in Effium community for Ezza people to fetch water from boreholes provided by the government and donor agencies for the public.
In 2007, the cabal in Ebonyi Government House which powered INUE overlords installed the second civilian governor who pursuant to the objectives of INUE overlords prohibited Ezza Ezekuna people in the Diaspora from aspiring to council chairmanship and state legislative positions no matter their voting strength. This goaded members of INUE overlords to ride roughshod on the rights of Ezza people in the Diaspora. When an innocuous and inconsequential dispute over the position of a commercial GSM operator's table came up, INUE overlords saw it as an opportunity to eject Ezza Ezekuna people from Ezillo. They hijacked and manipulated that simple disagreement into a full-blown war while our founding - father governor watched. When the Ezillo and Ezza-Ezillo imbroglio took a catastrophic dimension with negative implications for the state government, the second civilian governor of Ebonyi state mobilized all government apparatuses at his disposal against the people of Ezza Ezekuna. He almost lost his second term bid in 2011 as Ezza Ezekuna people at home and in the Diaspora demonstrated with their votes that 'the injury done to the ram was equally felt by the sheep'. Even though Elechi escaped electoral defeat by the whiskers, he failed to invoke necessary political will to correct or remedy his mistakes in the Ezillo and Ezza-Ezillo war. He handed over the war to Governor David Umahi on 29th May, 2015!
Governor David Umahi, a man of unequaled political will who believes like Pope John Paul II that "War should belong to the tragic past, in history" took up the challenge of restoring permanent peace between Ezillo and Ezza-Ezillo people and between all warring communities in Ebonyi state.
I have delved this far into history to enable us appreciate the magnitude of the challenge that Governor Umahi willfully took up just to make Ebonyi state a better and peaceful state. That Governor Umahi is succeeding against all odds and the under-current fireworks of the beneficiaries of the old order in the task of making Ebonyi a peaceful state is not in doubt. The tree of peace which Governor Umahi planted at Ezillo Peace Square on 5th September, 2016 is growing. The Deputy Governor of Ebonyi state - Dr. Eric Kelechi Igwe; Professor Bernard Odo who is the ebullient Secretary to the Government of Ebonyi State; the Ezzilo and Ezza-Ezillo peace committee chaired by Rev. Fr. Dr. Abraham Nwali; and in deed the members of Umahi's Divine Mandate team deserve commendations for their commitment and diligence on this particular peace project. This is moreso if one recalls that Umahi's peace effort is not restricted to Ezillo and Ezza-Ezillo.
It is trite that peace is the most patriotic, romantic and godly gift that a leader [and in fact any citizen] can give to his/her society. Governor Umahi and his team has demonstrated that governance is a veritable instrument of peace; and for me, my household and all men of goodwill in Ebonyi state, Governor David Nweze Umahi is not just Ebonyi version of St. Francis of Assissi, Umahi is a necessary instrument of peace donated by God for the healing of Ebonyi land. I charge Ebonyi people to use their votes in 2019 to secure and consolidate peace, equity and development in Ebonyi state by voting for the man of peace - Chief David Nweze Umahi.
It is well with Ebonyi state!