■ It’s not true – Community chairman

FROM PAUL OSUYI, ASABA

THE controversy surrounding the kingship stool of Ubulu-Uku Kingdom in Aniocha South Local Gov­ernment Area of Delta State has taken another dimen­sion following speculations that the recently installed king, 17-year old Chukwuka Noah Akaeze I would soon step down from the contentious throne.

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Akaeze I, who has since returned to the United Kingdom after his enthronement on February 18, suc­ceeded his father, Obi Akaeze Edward Ofulue III who was kidnapped and subsequently murdered allegedly by herdsmen earlier in the year.

However, less than two months of his installation, speculations became rife in the agrarian community about plans to substitute the young monarch with a very senior member of the royal family to weather the storm of controversy being raised by the On­ishe (Prime Minister), Chief Emma Ejiofor.

Chief Ejiofor had stirred the hornet’s nest when he declared the late Ofulue III a usurper, insisting as the Onishe, whose responsibility it is to crown a new king, he never installed Ofulue III as king neither did he install the young Akaeze I.