Obinna Odogwu, Awka
Members of Ezeokweghi Ezeofor Royal Family, Enugwu-Nanka in Nanka community, Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State, have petitioned Governor Willie Obiano, seeking his intervention in a communal crisis.
Also petitioned by the royal family were the Chief Judge, the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecution, Ministry of Justice and the Administrative Judge, Aguata High Court, Ekwulobia.
Chairman of the royal family, Ben Okeke, during a press conference in Awka, yesterday, alleged that for 10 years, the community had been enmeshed in crisis, occasioned by the use of a constitution which some of its sections had allegedly been altered by a faction of the community to serve certain interests.
Okeke, who highlighted some of the odd acts of some factional members of the town union, appealed to Governor Obiano to wade into the matter as those fanning the embers of discord were plotting to evade justice.
He alleged in the petition, which was also endorsed by the Assistant Secretary of the family, Wilfred Okafor, that the said constitution recognised by five out of seven villages in Nanka, purportedly provided for the rotation of the traditional stool among the five villages unlike it used to be.
“If the action of the defendants is legitimate; if the defendants have good defence; why can’t they stand trial and defend their action; why can’t they advance their defence to court instead of frustrating trial of the charge since five years?
“The society is watching as one wrong step begets another. We urge you to help protect the integrity of the court and society. We urge that the court be allowed to try the matter to restore the confidence of the society in its system and to assure it works.
“We want to assure Nanka people that we did not fail them; we worked hard to make sure the voice of justice was upheld,” Ezeofor royal family said in the petition.