| A monarch’s heartache
...God, when will govt return my properties?
By TOPE ADEBOBOYE
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
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HRM Eze Wogu
Photo: THE SUN PUBLISHING
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He lives in a magnificent palace, dons colourful traditional
attires and presides over the affairs of his people in the
Abia State capital. He’s blessed with children and grandchildren,
all of who are doing quite well in their respective professions.
Add that to the good health he enjoys even at the grand age
of 82, and you’ll think His Royal Majesty, Eze (Sir)
Mac U. Wogu, lives his days in utter fulfilment, with absolutely
no worries troubling his octogenarian mind.
But you would be wrong.
In spite of his privileged position and pedigree, the Eze-Ohanyerugo
and paramount traditional ruler of Umuahia has a big ache
assailing his heart. Each day, a question traumatizes his
soul, yet he can’t come up with an answer. The respected
monarch is saddened that almost four decades after the conclusion
of the Nigeria/Biafra war, items of his property seized by
the Nigerian government are yet to be returned.
The monarch isn’t the only one enduring this pathetic
fate. Many others have silently borne their pains since they
were deprived of their land, homes, offices and other items
of property after the civil war.
This Saturday morning, without a prior appointment, the reporter
saunters into Eze Wogu’s palace courts in Umuobutu village
in Old Umuahia. A casually attired palace aide takes the reporter’s
card to the ruler, and Eze Wogu promptly invites the journalist
into the king’s waiting room. Moments later, the royal
father saunters slowly into the room and invites the reporter
over. A little plate containing kola nuts, bitter kola and
garden eggs materializes, and the Eze offers some prayers
to God and the ancestors. And as the mouths munch the nuts,
the king unburdens his mind to his impromptu, much younger
guest.
According to the Eze, he has had no access to his jetty, warehouses
and the other items of property he left in Oron, while fleeing
from the war. Similar stories are told daily by many other
Igbo men and women whose property, tagged ‘abandoned
property’, have since been taken over by the Nigerian
state.
And, indeed, in the minds of many people, the continued possession
by the Nigerian government of buildings belonging to those
on the other side in that war has ensured that the memories
of the 30-month war perpetually linger like the pains of an
open, festering sore.
The king speaks slowly, softly; but his words flow forth with
power and passion. “I was in Umuahia during the civil
war. Before the war, I was at Oron in Cross River. Then, one
morning, there were booms of gun and a clatter of shots and
everybody ran away. It is generally taken that the war is
over; no victor no vanquished. But those of us who left our
property and ran for our lives have since been denied of such
property. That is why, this question of abandoned property,
I will appeal to Mr. President to review it.”
“The Nigerian government took over the property. They
were regarded as abandoned property, so when the war ended,
people found it difficult to repossess their property. The
current Senate President, David Mark, was, I think, the officer
in charge of resettlement of war victims. And the abandoned
property, most of us lost many things. You know when the Igbo
man goes out, he builds there. Even if he has no house at
home, he wants to settle down where he is, do his business
and make money. Most of us, the investments we made, it’s
like they all went down the drain.”
But the Eze is very pleased with the Federal Government’s
amnesty for the militants in the Niger-Delta region. In his
words, that initiative has drastically reduced the tension
in the entire country. But he wants the amnesty expanded beyond
the South-South.
“Some of us feel that the amnesty should be extended,”
the Eze says. “We want the government to extend the
amnesty to those of us whose houses, land and other items
were seized during the civil war. That incident of abandoned
property is a scar of the civil war which has not healed and
disappeared. It is one of those things people look at when
they are talking of marginalisation. That is why you still
find some people talking of Movement for Biafra, saying they
want Biafra again. So, I think Mr. President should, in the
same spirit that the militants got the amnesty and they are
now referred to as freedom fighters, in the same spirit, he
should order that the abandoned property be returned to their
owners in whatever state they are now. If our buildings are
returned, it will go a long way in assuaging the victims of
the war.”
Eze Wogu recalls that the issue of abandoned property has
been raised several times in the past with no tangible result.
“I know that the late Sam Mbakwe pleaded with the government,
but nothing came out of it, “he says.
“I worked with a firm, GBO, for 17 years as an area
supervisor in charge of Oron, Eket and a few other places.
During the indigenisation, when the UAC was leaving, they
handed over their buildings and the remnants of their tenancy
to a family in Calabar with whom I was very friendly. And
the family sold the place to me. But the Oron people said
no, I should recognise them as the land owners. Eventually,
I recognised them and continued to do my business there. But
we had to leave at the beginning of the war.”
Eze Wogu mounted the throne of his fathers in 1976. Since
then, he has ruled as the paramount traditional ruler of Umuahia,
including Ibeku, Umuokpara, Olokoro, Ubakala and other communities
in the Abia State capital.
The Nigerian government may be holding on to his buildings
in Oron, but Eze Wogu’s mind harbours no bitterness
against Nigeria’s rulers. Contrary to the thinking of
a vast majority of Nigerians, the king believes President
Yar’Adua isn’t doing too badly. In fact, the Eze-Ohanyerugo
insists that the president is steadily tackling Nigeria’s
problems.
“I like the president,” he asserts. “He
seems very sincere. I’m very happy with this amnesty
for the Niger Delta militants. But we are appealing to him
to also look into this issue of abandoned property.”
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