From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Umuahia, the capital of Abia State, was founded by Ibeku in the 16th Century. The Ohuhu later came to live with them and both clans presently make up Umuahia North Local Government Area.
The area has produced many notable personalities in the nation’s political, economic and social firmaments, including Nigeria’s first military head of state, Major-General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, and Premier of Eastern Region, Dr. Michael Okpara.
Despite its rich history and abundance of men of timber and caliber, Umuahia had been lacking in peace and unity.
The people of Ibeku and Ohuhu had, for the past 70 years or more, had a festering political dispute that led to the spilling of blood on both sides during the political era of Dr. Okpara (from Ohuhu) and Dr. J.O.J. Okezie (from Ibeku). As a result of this, the two brothers have not been speaking with one voice.
But all those disputes and differences came to an end on Wednesday, September 15, when 10 traditional rulers, five each from Ibeku and Ohuhu, met with Oparaukwu Ibeku, Apugo at Egwu, the ancestral home of the Ibeku, to mend fences.
Traditional rulers from Umuahia North local government area, through their chairman, Eze Ibezim, had approached the Oparaukwu Ibeku to inform him of their intention to celebrate this year’s New Yam festival together at Ogwumabiri Ibeku.
According to Apugo, “Being the first time this will happen, I asked Eze Ibezim whether he was not aware that Ibeku and Ohuhu, the two clans that make up Umuahia North, had political dispute years back that led to spilling of blood on both sides. I told him that tradition demands that before such could happen, the land must be appeased by representatives of the two brothers. Otherwise, there will be calamity in the land.
“Olokoro people did theirs immediately after the civil war, which made us to be at liberty with them and do things in common.
“I asked that Ibeku and Ohuhu clans should bring five traditional rulers each for them to perform the ‘Origori’ (both sides eating kola nut from the same tray and sharing drinks from the same bottle), at Egwu before they could gather for any traditional celebration”.
So, on September 15, the traditional rulers gathered at Egwu Ibeku to kick start the peace process. Among the traditional rulers who attended the peace meeting were Eze John Ibezim, chairman, Umuahia North Council of Traditional rulers; Eze Nzenwata Mbakwe, former 1st deputy chairman, Abia State Council of Traditional rulers; Eze Iheanyichukwu Ezeigbo, chairman, Ibeku Council of Traditional rulers and his counterpart from Ohuhu, Eze Nnamdi Ofoegbu.
Addressing his colleagues, Eze Ibezim, who said the purpose of the gathering was to restore the dignity and re-activate the respect each clan had for the other, thanked Prince Apugo for accepting to be the mediator between both clans.
He called on the Federal Government to extend its developmental plans to the south east , adding that Nigeria has what it takes to make every geopolitical zone have a feeling of belonging, and not to be marginalized.
In their remarks, the chairman Ibeku Traditional rulers council, Eze Ezigbo and his counterpart from Ohuhu, Eze Ofoegbo gave their consents to the peace move and charged other traditional rulers to take the good news to their various kingdoms.
Addressing the gathering, Apugo said it was because of his believe that the two brothers should be in peace and unity, that made him to accept to head the peace move which took place at Obu, Egwu Ibeku.
Apugo said: “If the Origori was not performed, calamity could have befallen the people as those who would have partaken part in the New Yam festival would all have died.
“Ibeku and Ohuhu people had not been together in celebrating the New Yam festival. Although they are brothers, they were not united as a result of the political dispute that took place several years ago which led to the killing of people on both sides of the divide.
“However, with the Origori, the land has been appeased and the bloodshed washed away. Now, there is peace and unity between the two brothers who would, henceforth, live and work together in peace and harmony.”
He told the traditional rulers that he had expected what happened that day to take place several years ago, but expressed joy it eventually took place in his lifetime.
Apugo enumerated how not being in unity between the two clans that make up Umuahia had denied the capital city of the needed development. He said if not for the few things he attracted to Umuahia as a person, which included the upgrading of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia, and the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), there is no other Federal Government presence in Umuahia.
“When the FMC was established, there was no money to pay workers’ salary because they had not been given allocation. I had to lend them money with which they paid salaries after which they gave me back when they received their subvention,” he explained.
He charged the two clans to chart one course, restore the dignity they are known for, put the past behind them and come together for the good of their children.
He expressed displeasure that despite the fact that Okpara and Aguiyi-Ironsi worked hard to develop other parts of Nigeria, past and present administrations in Abia State have not done much to give Umuahia a face lift, as the state capital.
The Oparaukwu Ibeku, who said he was about four or five years old when the dispute began, thanked the traditional rulers of both clans for seeing the importance of the peace deal and urged them to send the message across to their various subjects.
The former first deputy chairman, Abia State Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Nzenwata Mbakwe, who was part of the peace meeting, commended his colleagues from both sides for the peace meeting. He said history will be kind to all those who, in one way or the other, saw to the success of the meeting.
Eze Mbakwe said it was unfortunate that, for the past 80 years, the two brothers of Ibeku and Ohuhu had been living without genuine peace, which he said had actually robbed Umuahia of the needed development as a state capital.
“Before now, as a traditional ruler from Ohuhu, I hardly could stay with my brother traditional ruler from Ibeku and feel free because of the dispute.
“But with the settling of the dispute that lasted for 80 years, and which has no political undertone, genuine peace has returned to the land and nobody will be afraid of his brother anymore.”
Eze Ofoegbu, also from Ohuhu, spoke in the same vein. He said because of the dispute, the two brothers have not been coming together to do things the way they ought.
He gave an instance of the new yam festival, which he said Ibeku and Ohuhu had not come together to celebrate before now. He expressed delight that with the peace that has returned to the area, they would henceforth be doing things in unison.
A title holder in Ibeku, Chief Ibe Adighi, said it was a thing of joy that peace has finally returned to Umuahia as a whole and commended everyone who played one role or another.
“The dispute went to the extreme. Because of the dispute, it was difficult for an Ibeku man to marry from Ohuhu and vice versa. But now, with the peace that has been brokered, all those hindrances have been put into the dustbin of history.”