Felix Ikem, Nsukka
After over a decade of living in acrimony, fear and near breakdown of law and order, the people of Ogbodu-Aba community, Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu state, seem to have finally given peace a chance.
The crisis in the community, Daily Sun gathered, began with the quest for the succession of their former traditional ruler, Igwe Francis Okwo, who died in 2003.
The election and subsequent installation of the incumbent traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Peter Ejeh in 2008, practically polarised the community as some people rejected the outcome of the election.
According to Chief Patrick Ugwu, a prominent indigene of the area, “They threw the community into crisis as these set of people continued to cause untold confusion in our community. There was high rate of insecurity; everybody was living in fear. In fact, the community was polarised by this ugly situation. You must belong to one camp. Family members were literally divided; marriages were also broken and severed. There was cold war going on in the community for over a decade”.
It continued that way until June 10, 2018, when two Catholic priests of Nsukka Diocese were beaten mercilessly by Akatakpa masquerades from the camp of those opposed to the traditional ruler.
A statement by the Diocese shortly after the attack had stated that “Rev. Fr. Peter Chikwado Udaya, the parish priest of St. Patrick’s Parish Ibenda and Rev. Fr. Daniel Tochukwu Akubue, the parish priest of St. Mary’s Parish, Ada-Obollo as well as the assistant diocesan liturgist were attacked as they were going back to their duty posts after a brief visit from St. Charles Parish, Eha-Ndiagu.”
It explained that the two clerics were stopped, blocked and shamefully harassed by some masked and unmasked Ogbodu-Aba youths and their slightest attempt to inquire what was amiss was greeted with rains of lashes and massive downpour of slaps from every side.
The diocese however, condemned the attitude displayed by the villagers whom it said resorted to hailing and cheering the attackers instead of rescuing the priests.
It took the intervention of a couple in the village; Mr. Stephen Eze and wife to rescue the priests. But surprisingly, the rescuer and his family members were later ostracized by the some people in community for helping the priests.
Daily Sun learnt that one of them, Fr. Udaya sustained various injuries leading to loss of one of his eyes.
It was at this period that the traditional ruler, Igwe Ejeh bowed to pressure, and took far reaching decisions to restore peace in the troubled community by placing an indefinite ban on masquerade display in the community.
Daily Sun visited his palace, recently, and sought to know why he took such ‘harsh’ decision; Igwe Ejeh who is also the Chairman of Udenu traditional rulers’ council, declared that it was the best option for peace to return in the area.
He pointed out that all the relevant stakeholders were consulted and carried along before the decision was made with approval of the state government.
“The ban is an offshoot of an unfortunate incident in which the Akatakpa masquerades were going about molesting and beating people mercilessly. One of such incidents was the case of beating of two Catholic priests, Rev. Fr. Peter Udaya and Rev. Fr. Daniel Akubue. The man at whose command these masquerades were molesting people called himself Igwe which he is not and it is my name and that of my community that were now being tainted. This is because people said that it was the Igwe that instigated the beating while they didn’t know it wasn’t my own Igwe. We had no other option than to proscribe these murderous masquerade`s from even coming out in our community. You could recall how they beat Catholic priests mercilessly in our community. Who wants to condone such murderous act in his community? He even dragged me, Bishop Onah and Stephen Eze who rescued the priests from the beating these masquerades to court,” he stated.
Asked why he did not explore other options like regulating their activities instead of placing outright ban on them, Igwe Ejeh, said the ugly incident had lasted for about five years, adding that the community at some point even tried registering and giving the masquerades numbers, but all to no avail.
“We have also sought the option of making the Akatakpa masquerades come out only three times during the one month period of their outing, yet this couldn’t work. So, for this reason, we had to take the bull by the horn and ban the masquerades indefinitely,” he said.
He said that the decision by members of his cabinet with the Ogbodu-Aba elders’ council, was heart-warming, adding that the Omabe festival would now replace the Akatakpa festival in the community.
“Any culture that is harmful to the people of the community is no good culture. Some years ago, Akatakpa masquerades were for fun and entertainment; but now that they have turned it into an instrument of brutalising innocent persons, we can’t hesitate to proscribe it,” he declared.