Prince Henry Obienu
The recent social disquiet in Ogidi Kingdom, where mismanaged tempers led some youths on the path of cultural sacrilege against their monarch, Igwe Alex Onyido, is unfortunate, to say the least. A people perish for lack of knowledge. For posterity’s sake, Ogidi Kingdom in Anambra State, a place of peace, tranquility and rich cultural heritage, should never again be made a playground for anarchy by some youths on the payroll of notorious merchants of hate, malice and lies against their monarch and the general populace.
The facts are bare and clear that when a dispute arises, especially in respect of land, as was the case here, people should not resort to self-help, but follow civilised due process. In the instant case, even where criminal damage was visited on the property of the monarch and disagreements arose,he submitted the matter to due protocols of communal engagement for peaceful adjudication. It was when the interventions of these customary arbiters went unheeded with threats of violence by same restive youths that they decided to alert the police to prevent matters from degenerating.
The police, in their constitutional mandate to keep law and order, invited those involved but their ring leaders defied the invitation. In the course of discharging their duty for public order and safety, the police visited the house of one Mr. Okoye, who, still bent on evading invitation, jumped the fence to a grave personal injury that led to his untimely death. This, indeed, was tragically unfortunate but sensibly avoidable.
So, the facts should be sacred for what they are; the Igwe was not the one that invited the police but the community arbitrators as peace stakeholders. There was no gunshot, no beating and no threats by the police but simple an invitation to make peace and resolve the matter as brothers should ordinarily do. It is, therefore, morally unfair in this regrettable circumstance to lay the blame of citizen Okoye’s death on the very person who was taking lawful steps to prevent a breakdown of order, being as he is the very custodian of culture, law and order in his domain.
It is even more reprehensible that the said youths took the inglorious opportunity of this rather sad episode to fan the flame of more calamity by going to seize the corpse of the deceased from the mortuary for public display and deposited it at the door of their monarch, a sacrilege never allowed by culture and tradition.
I advise that no sane society should accept evil nor should anyone deliberately criminalise the innocent. It is of great relief that the president-general of the town, Mr. Chuka Onubogu, has spoken, just as the Anambra State Police Command PRO has said that no one murdered the deceased and they were working hard to unravel the truth of the matter and bring closure to it amicably.
The brains behind this must be exposed to serve as a deterrent to future dangers they pose to a decent society. The generality of our youths should be vigilant not to allow persons who are against the orderly development of our town, ably being pursued by Igwe Onyido, renowned pharmacist by training, and his cabinet to be hijacked by unrepentant idlers and their shadow masters who profit by chaos and anarchy than pursue prosperity in peace and harmony because love for justice is love for humanity.
Ogidi Kingdom will be greater when the youths engage their energies for development than for destruction. Let’s support our Igwe and his Council of Elders and everyone of us as stakeholders to make progress and development our destination.
We stand up and reject a slide back to Egypt, where for over five decades we lacked direction and consensus without an Igwe, until we unanimously chose this one, and he graciously ascended the royal throne to everyone’s delight.
•Prince Obienu, criminologist, wrote from Lagos