• Brothers at war over succession to father’s throne
By Josfyn Uba
A few months ago, Egbudu Akah Kingdom, in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State, made history. Its monarch, HRM, Obi Agbogidi Alfred Okolie, who reigned for 70 years, was the longest reigning king in Nigeria. He was old, but succeeded in holding together his people for the long years he was on the throne. He died at the age of 104.
Today, the peace of the kingdom has been shattered. A once united community has been broken into two by kingship tussle. The Egbudu Akah Kingdom has two kings, who are laying claims to the throne, earlier held solely by Obi Okolie. Incidentally, the two contending “kings” are sons of the late monarch.
Indeed, anarchy has been let loose upon Egbudu Akah Kingdom. The king’s palace has been demolished. A church built within the palace premises has also been brought down. And there is mutual suspicion between the two divides in the Delta kingdom.
Trouble started shortly after Obi Okolie’s death on September 30, 2016, when one of his sons, Prince Solomon, a pastor based in Nsukwa, Delta State, was crowned on October 20, 2016 as the next king by a group of persons from one part of the community. He was named King Solomon Ogwuagwu 1 of Egbudu Akah.
Barely one month later, another part of the community crowned Prince Paul (67) as Obi Paul Okolie 1 of Egbudu Akah Kingdom on November 9, 2016, in a ceremony presided over by the eldest man, Diokpa Ikwesi.
With two kings in one kingdom, the traditional meetings (Izu Ani) are now held in two different places. And the chiefs and the elders in the community attend meetings based on allegiance and loyalty.
When Daily Sun visited the town, the division was visible. There was an uneasy calm. Villagers associate based on the side of the divide they belong.
Why are the two kings laying claims to the throne? Obi Paul Okolie, a retired principal, said the “other king,” Prince Solomon, is his junior and, by tradition, cannot mount the throne when he’s alive.
Said he: “He is the seventh child among my father’s children, but we are not of the same mother. He is the third son among those that are alive. Ideally, we are supposed to stay for a period of three months before the next king would be installed, as required by tradition, but I am surprised at his installation, which is wrong, anyway.
“He is not the rightful person. The people that install king are from the family. The eldest man of the royal family (Diokpa, Umu-Obi) is the person that would tell the quarters who should be installed as the next king, according to our tradition. As it is in Obi Okolie’s family, Diokpa Augustine Ikwesi presented me to the quarters.”
Obi Okolie claimed that there were some antagonists who had often challenged his father when he was alive. “I was the only son among my father’s children who could counter them and their activities. They felt that they might not be able to easily control me since they needed someone they can manipulate,” he said.
The controversial emergence of the two brothers as kings in Egbudu Akah is currently before the court. According to Daily Sun investigation, Prince Solomon claimed that mother of his brother, Prince Paul Okolie, was inherited (Igbulu na nzo) by their late father and so could not ascend the throne, since he was a child from inheritance.
Prince Paul countered this. He said: “Yes, it is true that my mother was inherited by my father, but he wasn’t married as at the time of the inheritance. Besides, he also paid her bride price, according to our custom. Again, my father was traditionally required to be married before he could ascend the throne, as the king.
“My mother was the first wife. After he had inherited her, she gave birth to my sister and me. So, it is important to point out here that my father did not inherit my sister and me. I am a bonafide son of my father. I was born after he inherited my mother. I am 67 years old. Prince Solomon is not even the next son to me. I have another brother next to me, before him.”
In Egbudu Akah Kingdom, inheritance is customary, not a taboo. It is still functional till today.
Prince Paul said even if a child was born out of wedlock, and the father acknowledges the child, he pays certain claims or possibly pays the bride price of the child’s mother and takes the child to the family. “The family can give that particular child his inheritance. All these are obtainable in our clime and even at that, the child in question remains the legitimate child of the man,” he said.
Talking about Prince Solomon’s birth, he said his half brother’s mother was not properly married to their late father. “Her marriage to my father was rather circumstantial.” He said there was a problem between the family of his half-brother’s mother and his father. After the settlement and to show love between the two families, Prince Solomon’s mother was given his the late Obi Okolie as wife.
He said: “So, in reconciliation and quest for peace, Solomon’s mother’s people opted to give their daughter away in marriage to my father. That was exactly how my father married her. Her bride price was never paid traditionally by my father.”
On the situation of things, he said: “For now, I can’t go to the palace because it has been sealed traditionally. After my father’s death, the place was cordoned off with palm fronds and nobody goes in. We didn’t know Prince Solomon had a different plan. They took away the staff of office.”
Speaking on his father’s dual personality as a born again Christian and a traditional ruler, Prince Paul said there was no single community where the entire community is made up of Christians only. In eastern Nigeria, the people serve God but when it comes to their traditional festivals, they all go back home and perform traditional rite. That is just how it is. For him, “you must give to Caesar what belongs to him and to God what is His. When my father was alive, he belonged to the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministry for which he erected a building in the palace. The church members came to perform the Christian rite due my father; so I went to church. It took us four days, but when my brother heard that I visited the palace, in a feat of anger, he demolished the church where my father had worshipped when he was alive.”
On what to do in preparation towards the late monarch’s burial, he said: “My people and the government have asked me to be calm and quiet since the case is already in the court. Although, I was asked not to parade myself as the king by the court, my lawyer had also written in my defence, stating that judgment had not been passed.
When Daily Sun contacted Pa Augustine Ikwesi, he said Prince Solomon had only usurped the powers and is not recognised by the community. According to him, the rightful person to mount the throne is Prince Paul. On inheritance of women, Pa Ikwesi said this was not a taboo in their community.
Madam Margaret Obi, a princess and elder sister to Prince Paul, expressed anxiety towards the burial of their late father and only prays that God touches Prince Solomon’s heart to stop his act. “The situation now is very delicate. They had even chased me away on several occasions from the house. What Solomon is doing is an abomination. I had pleaded with him to come to my house and talk things over, but he refused. He is not in anyway in line to this throne. Paul has an immediate younger brother, Lucky, who lives in London. Peradventure
Paul, for any reason had refused to take up the position, Lucky is next in line.”
Nwigwe Ikenne, a resident told Daily Sun: “If you watched the so-called coronation of Prince Solomon, you would find out that those who crowned him were his age mates. Where, in the world do you see youths crowning a king? I only hope that he does not regret his action because he is not going about it the right way. His mother is the one pushing him.”
An elder in the community, who spoke on basis of anonymity, revealed that when the late king died, he requested Prince Solomon to see him, so they could talk. The young man refused to see him. “What he is doing will not help him. I know that he would regret it. His immediate brother, though, not of the same mother, in London had called him for a truce, but he refused to come for the meeting. I know that even if the kingship is chosen in turn, it is not yet his turn. I am older than he and I know that. His mother’s first male child died. The second died and third, so when they had him, he was named Ogwuagwu, then, he was taken to Udumuje-Ugboko, where he was raised.
Another elder, Pa Felix Onochie, a retired soldier and a relation to the late Obi Okolie, who traced their royal lineage, spoke of how Prince Solomon had approached him and pleading to be crowned the King. “But I told him that Paul Okolie is the rightful person and it is not his right. It is not by election, but by birth. The case is in court and I am going to testify. Paul would be crowned King and Solomon would step down. There would be celebration at the end of it all,” he stressed.
Some residents, who spoke on basis of anonymity, expressed hope that peace would return to the community again. “My prayer is that the rightful king emerges at the end of all this crisis. We are peace-loving people. We want to live in peace again”
Speaking on how the late monarch would be buried, Prince Paul told Daily Sun: “My father was the oldest man in Egbudu Akah, and has died. There is no one in the community who can tell us exactly how kings are buried or the procedure, traditionally. Those who would have known had died. He was older than everybody in town. So, what we have done was to seek consultations from the neighbouring villages. No one in the community can say how it is done because his reign lasted for 70 years. No one here witnessed how a king was buried. We thank God for his life.”
Speaking on the issues, Prince Solomon insists he is the rightful occupant of the throne. According him, going by the tradition of Egbudu Akah, he is the first living son of his late father.
Said he: “My mother, Mrs. Adaeke Okolie, was the first legal wife of my late father, while Paul’s mother was only inherited by my late father, with some of her children, including this man, Paul. The inheritance was in error and contrary to the customs and tradition of our people. Unfortunately, they couldn’t reverse it.”
Tracing the history, he said: “My grandfather, Enemokwu, married four wives. My father was not the first child of his father. There was one son ahead of him whose name was Babadi Enemokwu, but he died while his father was alive. Before he died, he had about four wives. Two were alive when his father died in 1946. So, Obi Okolie was mandated to inherit his late brother’s two surviving wives and children. My father then inherited them through a traditional process known as Igbulu na nzo.
“My father had inherited his brother’s two wives before he continued his own life by marrying my mother, who gave birth to myself and two sons, who later died. Therefore, I am the rightful living first son of the late Obi Okolie.”
He revealed that after his two elder brothers passed on, his father was scared that he (Prince Solomon) might also die. Therefore, the late monarch and the entire royal family resolved to take him to the palace of the Obi of Idumuje Ugboko in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta state for safety.
“I was about two or three years then and didn’t come back to Egbudu Akah until I became an adult,” he said.
On whether inheritance is a taboo in Egbudu Akah Kingdom, Prince Solomon stated: “It was a taboo for my father to have expected that such a senior male child from the inherited marriage can ascend to the throne of our forefathers as the king. Paul can never be the king. The much he can be is the head of the family or a quarter. But to think that he, Paul, can become the Obi is not possible. I am the heir apparent to the throne and the rightful son of the late Obi Okolie. It wasn’t until I returned to Egbudu Akah that I knew it was a taboo for my late father to have inherited the two wives.”
Buttressing Prince Solomon’s claims, Ada Nwaedo Adagbo, maternal cousin of King Ogwuagwu faulted the choice of Paul Okolie as the king. “Why will the community allow someone who is not the direct child of the late king to rule them? Do we now allow illegality in our town? This is a man whom we all know that his mother was an inherited wife of the king. He cannot be allowed to mount the throne because it is not his right. He was secretly installed through a fraudulent process without the approval of the community. He is only a prince and can never be the king. A few old men, who are no longer in tune with the realities of the time are the ones behind him.
“These people know the truth. They only wanted to give him, Paul, a false sense of belonging. Now, he can’t publicly say he is the king. And if indeed he is the rightful person, let him call a town’s meeting (Izu Ani). Our tradition is completely against his actions because he is not the heir apparent to the throne.”
Speaking to Daily Sun, Chief Akwuma Okonta, who claims to have been one of the people who crowned Prince Solomon, said Paul Okolie’s action borders on greed. According to him, traditionally, he is the head (Diokpa) of the late monarch’s children. “But for him to aspire for the ascension of the throne of his forefathers, is an aberration. It is not acceptable. King Solomon Ogwuagwu is the heir apparent because his mother, Margaret Adaeke Okolie, was legally married to the late monarch.
“Paul claimed that the palace was demolished. The fact remains that his mother was inherited alongside her children. So, how can he be the king? King Solomon remains the one and only crowned king of Egbudu Akah Kingdom.”
Asked if inheritance in their Egbudu Akah tradition is a taboo, Chief Okonta said: “Inheritance is not a taboo, but the way and manner Paul is going about it is out of desperation. The late king did not marry his mother legally. So, how can he lay claim to the ancestral stool?”
Obed Afunwa, a childhood friend of Prince Solomon, told Daily Sun: “Since Paul’s installation, he has been going about in various communities around us, lobbying chiefs and Obis for support simply because he knows he is not the rightful person to inherit the throne. How can a true king be lobbying?
“His father ruled this town for 70 years and no crisis. Does he need to beg or forcefully become king? What amuses some of us about him is that he only woke up rather late to realise he could start contesting for a position that is not his, after hearing that King Solomon has mounted the throne. King Solomon was crowned immediately after his father’s death, in line with our tradition and custom.”
Adafor Ejekem, an elderly woman and a relative to the widow of the late king, Mrs. Adaeke, is most concerned that the peace the community enjoyed over the years is becoming elusive. She said: “Those people pushing Paul would not claim ignorance of the late monarch’s preference for his younger son, King Solomon. King Solomon was always with him. He was with him since his return from the palace of the Obi of Idumuje Ugboko. His father groomed him for this position. It is obvious that those people behind Paul do not mean well for our people.
In her words: “Paul is only fighting in futility. I hear that the case has been taken to court. Let us watch and see who will win. I would advise Paul to heed the voice of the people and let peace reign.”
From the foregoing, each side in the squabble for the throne claims to be right. The case is in court, but the question is: When the court decides who should be king, will the parties agree? Time will tell.