Monthly meetings (2015-06-14)

Day-old baby emerges Crown Prince of Igbodo kingdom – By Austin Ogwuda

August 29, 2014August 29, 2014

HISTORY was made yesterday in Igbodo Kingdom of Ika North East Local Government Area of Delta State, when a day old baby boy was crowned to become the crown prince of the kingdom, ostensibly to forestall any succession controversy in future.

He was crowned some few hours after his birth within the hospital environment. To address the succession issue once and for all warranted the Igbodo ruling house to move straight to the hospital, where the child was born and crowned him there without further protocols. The child, named Ugochukwu was crowned by the leader of a delegation from the Igbodo palace at St. Luke’s Hospital Asaba, where he boy was delivered. Vanguard gathered that the boy was delivered on Wednesday night and the following morning (yesterday ) he was crowned. Chief Eugene Iyeke of the ruling house of Igbodo led the delegation to Asaba with members of the Obi-in-council and notable indigenes. It will be recalled that that the Obi of Igbodo, Obi Ikechukwu Osedume I, succumbed to the wishes of his people by formally marrying an indigene of the community in accordance to the native law and custom early in October last year. And it was the wife, called Onyinyechukwu, a native of Igbodo that bore the boy that was crowned yesterday morning.

Igbodo: Divided over Obi’s marriage to a foreigner – By Felix Igbekoyi

May 7, 2013May 7, 2013

Unlike before, the community was without its usual boisterous setting. People did not bump into one another as it had been. Apart from the presence of a few fruit traders and palm wine tappers who spoke in low tones or occasional excited comments of policemen and other security officers, everywhere was quiet. Even a stranger to the community would readily notice the unusual development from the cluster of people and their mechanical movements. This was the atmosphere on April 19, 2013 at the busy Igbodo Market in Ika North East Local Government Area of Delta State. The unusual quietude was even as indigenes of Igbodo have built a Divisional Police Headquarters for the state police command in response to the call by the Inspector General of Police for citizens to assist the police formations across the country to perform their duties effectively and efficiently. By its geographic nature, Igbodo Community, located on the Benin-Onitsha expressway, is a hub for farm products especially fruits. Trading in the community is further bolstered due to its links with six communities including Idumuje, Onicha-Ugbo, Obior, Ekwuoma, Mbiri and Ekpon. This may have also exposed the area to security challenges. Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba who laid the foundation of the building project on February 22, 2013, also inaugurated it on April 19. He recalled last year’s clash with men of the underworld which left about four officers of the command dead. Aduba said robbery operation by the vicious men started in Igbodo and spilled across to Ibusa where the law enforcement agents engaged the hoodlums. Explaining how the project was executed, President General of Igbodo Development Union, Peter Ozili said Igbodo like-minds and stakeholder, home and abroad put up the building which was duly supervised by officers from the Works Department of the state police command. “We collectively agreed to embark on the project on the premise that when there is security in a community, peace will reign supreme; developments will spring up; and the well-being of the people would be improved. We have just set a ball rolling. It is, therefore, our collective duty not to allow the ball to stop gathering momentum. Now is never late. So, let us lead from the front and carry out the development of Igbodo together in the spirit of shared destiny, vision and identity. But the remark by Ozili, it has been argued, may not be unconnected to the present crisis in the community bothering on who the monarch should take as his wife. And behind the logjam is an Ebonyi first lady in the palace. Kingmakers are presently said to be at the cross roads following the monarch’s alleged insistence on marrying outside the community, a practice, they claimed, is against the tradition of the people and their passion for preserving their cultural practices. According to investigations by Daily Independent, Igbodo tradition does not allow the king to marry his first wife expected to be the mother of his heir outside the community. The implication is that if the king marries an “outsider” a foreigner might end up on the throne or create succession problem in future. The development has generated ripples and bad blood for about two years now in the community. Palace activities have been boycotted by his subjects since the crisis started with several internal attempts at resolving it not yielding fruits. It is looking more complicated by the day following the rigid positions of both parties on the issue. The crisis got to its peak recently when the embattled monarch was said to have attempted to sneak his heartthrob into the palace. He was resisted by the people who mobilized to chase her out in spite of the security cover allegedly hired to provide protection. But the monarch, His Royal Majesty, Obi Ikechukwu Osedume I would not take this as he stuck to his Ebonyi state-born heartthrob who had already given him a female child. The couple met during the Obi’s sojourn to the East for University education. As a Christian, Obi Osedume who studied Law at Madonna University was said to have insisted on marrying the Ebonyi woman. According to history, Obi Osedume’s father, Obi Sunday Iyeke I died about three years ago while he (Osedume) was still considered as a minor by the elders of the community. There were plans to create regency to fill the void until he came of age. It was said that there were some subtle moves by certain groups at the time to hijack the regency arrangement with the aim of short changing the heir. But the kingmakers got wind of the plans and quickly mobilized for the enthronement of Obi Osedume I without installing a wife as is usually the practice. The explanation offered for the action was that the Obi was still in school and at the appropriate time, they would get him a wife. Dr. Joseph Unomah, The Iyase (Prime Minister) of Igbodo Kingdom, who doubles as the community’s spokesman defended the action of the community, stressing that it was meant to sustain their tradition and to avoid creating succession problems in future. According to him, the people are very passionate about their customs and traditions, noting that allowing the Obi to marry an outsider would have grave implications for the community as this could lead to the obliteration of the cherished traditional practices of the people. Obi, he said, however insisted that he had a dream and God told him that that was the woman he must marry. “We told him that even if the Ebonyi woman gave him a male child, he cannot succeed him thereby creating succession problem for himself, the child, the royal family and the entire community in the future. “We are not saying he should not marry an alien. The Obi has been asked to marry somebody from our kingdom who would bring forth an heir to the throne. After that, he is free to marry as many women as he wants to marry from outside including this woman that is presently causing the crisis. “We had explained the tradition to him that he cannot marry outside the kingdom. But he insisted that he was not going to marry two women. We explained to him that the reason why we are objecting to his marrying his first wife from outside is that our custom forbids it in the first place. “Secondly, our people want to make sure that the woman he is marrying, the family is well-known by everybody because the Obi’s wife is symbolically the wife and mother of the whole community. She must be known; we must make sure that she does not have any hereditary disease such as tuberculosis, aids, epilepsy and what have you. “Thirdly, we are also making sure that from the family where she comes, they do not practice harlotry, witchcraft; they are not wayward and they are not thieves because the wife of the Obi must be decent, pure, must come from a good background. She must not bring the kingdom to disdain. We don’t know the background of the Ebonyi woman, whether she is from the caste family, whether they are thieves”. “The Obi can still marry this woman but she cannot give us heir. If we allow that to happen, his child may even be encouraged to marry outside and the circle will continue and that might be the end to our traditional practices,” Unomah, a knight of St. Mulumba in the Catholic Church, added. But Oghenejabor Ikimi, a human rights activist and National Coordinator, Forum for Justice and Human Rights Defence (FJHRD), described the action of the people as inhuman, cruel, absurd and repugnant to natural law, equity and good conscience, vowing to take the matter to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. He lamented that Igbodo experience would be reported to the nation’s Human Rights Commission in Abuja and same shall form part of the periodic review report on women’s right in Nigeria He urged the Federal Government to support the United Nation’s efforts in guaranteeing women’s rights against harmful traditional practices “such as that obtainable in Igbodo” by enacting legislation to protect the rights of women. But Ozili took Ikimi to task, advising the monarch to abdicate his throne and stick to his Ebonyi wife and religious belief “instead of desecrating our land”. He added; “The old men were asking why we enthroned him instead of creating regency. We explained that the young man was still in school that as soon as he came back, we would get him a wife. That was where the problem started. If we had known we would have listened to the old men. We would have avoided this mess if he was not enthroned at that time but we were just looking at the surface. We wanted to solve one small problem not knowing that we were creating a bigger one’’. Curiously, Delta State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Prof Patrick Muoboghare, has advised the Obi to beware of human right activists if he wants a peaceful reign among his subjects. He urged him to listen to his people and not allow any group in the name of human right to push him into legal battle with his subjects. He said the issue of tradition has little or no effect on the constitution of Nigeria, adding that before the Obi was installed as the king, he must have been briefed on the do and don’ts of the throne he wanted to ascend and he accepted. According to him, Obi turning against his people amounts to discretion of the stool, contending that the king has the option of leaving the throne if he cannot keep to the tradition as required by the throne. Muoboghare stated that the position of the community was not about the person as the king but the throne, noting that the elderly members of the community including Octogenarians also bow to the requirements of the throne by paying homage to the king. According to him, as a king the Obi enjoys many privileges, including being paid homage by leaders and top government officials, noting that the matter at stake was a little sacrifice the Obi has to make for occupying the throne. “What the people are agitating for is to avoid a situation of rejection of the heir apparent on the account of not being born by an indigene as required by the tradition. Every throne has its tradition. Benin, lfe, Agbor, Warri, Sokoto stools are revered today because of the ability of the people to keep the customs and traditions as passed on to them by their ancestors’’, Muoboghare claimed. But the Monarch maintained that the demand by the indigenes for him to marry an indigene does not amount to crisis situation as the people are busy in the community socializing with one another, alleging that some persons were sponsoring crisis because they wanted the throne and as the custodian of the customs and traditions of the people, he would never indulge in anything that would disparage their culture and tradition. In a statement signed by Victor Christopher, Obi’s spokesman, he claimed the people hold him in high esteem to protect, defend and promote their cultural heritage. He accused Unomah of fanning the embers of trouble by making “vexatious statements” and had “turned himself to a prophet of doom,” alleging that the said Iyase had breached certain traditional practices of the people on claims that he was a knight in the church, and as such, called on him to relinquish his Iyaseship to serve God and the church.

The Crowning OF H.R.M Obi of Igbodo

March 29, 2010March 29, 2010

IKA WEEKLY - The Obi of Igbodo Kingdom in Ika North East Local Government Area, His Royal Majesty, Ikechukwu Nkeobikwu Osedume I, was on Tuesday, 14th of April, 2009, presented with the staff of office by the Delta State Government, at the Royal Palace, Igbodo. The staff of office which was presented to Obi Osedume by the Deputy Governor, Prof. Amos Agbe Utuama (SAN) who stood in for the Executive Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan symbolizes the official oath of office by the traditional ruler having been coronated by his people on the 12th of January, 2007 immediately after his fathers burial. The occasion which displayed the rich cultural heritage of Igbodo community was witnessed by numerous Igbodo sons and daughters, both at home and abroad and non-indigenes, prominent among whom were the Deputy Governor of Delta State, Prof. Utuama, Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, House of Representatives Member; Justice Marshal Mukoro, Commissioner for Works, Sir Paul Osagie, Commissioner for Women Affairs, Social and Community Development, Queen Victoria Ikenchukwu, Ika North East Local Government Chairman, Hon. Festus Iweriebor; his Deputy, Hon. Benson Oside, Leader of the Council Legislative Arms, Hon. Chuks Agbomah, Alhaji Obunba II from Nasarawa State, traditional rulers which include Obi of Owa Kingdom, HRM Dr. Emmanuel Efeizomor II (JP) OON, Obi of Akumazi, HRM Obi Stephen Chukwuyemeze III JP, Obi of Ute-Okpu, HRM Obi Solomon Chukwuka I, Obi of Umunede, Agadagidi Ezeagwu Ezewanli I, Obi of Otolokpo, HRM (Pastor) Collins, Obi of Ute-Ogbeje, HRM, and palace chiefs. It was learnt by Ika Weekly that the newly coronated Obi became the Obi immediately after the demise of his father, His Royal Majesty Albert Sunday Iyeke III (JP) who joined his ancestors in 2007. On the 12th of January, 2007, and have been according to some interviewed Igbodo indigenes, working cordially with the council of Elders, the Obi-in-Council and Heads of the six villages in administering the affairs of the community. Obi Ikechukwu Osedume I, when interviewed by journalists over the question of why his surname was changed from Iyeke to Osedume, the Obi said that the surname was changed by his late father before he died and does not know the reason behind the change. He further stated that his father was the end to the Iyeke dynasty while Osedume I is the first and beginning of his generation. When asked about how he hopes to tackle the challenges of his people, vis-�-vis protecting the culture of his people, he said politely that he looks unto God the supreme being, for guidance and direction and most especially wisdom, adding that with his obi-in-council, elders, and clergy men, he hopes to take Igbodo community to a higher level as he promised that though that it is that the people that makes a culture exist, but that any culture which is not in line with God is not accepted, as he respects God. The Deputy Governor, Prof. Amos Utuama (SAN) who read the congratulatory speech presented by the Governor, His Excellency Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, said that the Obi should endeavour to carry his people along in other to take Igbodo to greater heights and as he is the custodian of culture for his people, he should strive to attain the three point agenda which includes: Peace and security, human capital development and infrastructural development as stipulated by the Delta State Government, in his every day administrative duties in the community. Prof. Utuama further said that the cries of the community over certain infrastructural development, like provision of good feeder roads/erosion control, completion of the NDDC borehole water project, availability of a modern market, completion of the building of the community�s health centre, have reached the knowledge of the Delta State Government and promised that they will be looked into one after the other. The Deputy Governor went a step further to commend the community for being the food basket of Delta State. He also seized the opportunity to encourage the great personalities of Igbodo, like the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Joe C. Keshi, the President of Igbodo Development Union, North America, Mr. Chuks Ojemi, Former Vice Chancellor of University of Benin, Professor Nduka Okoh, Coordinator of Igbodo Development Union, Europe, Mr. Christian Martins Ubani, Chief Emmanuel Mbulu, the Akueluno of Igbodo and the rest of them to help bring back home their vast knowledge to the benefit of the entire Igbodo people. In an address presented by the Honorable Chairman of Ika North East Local Government Area, Hon. Festus Iweriebor to the Deputy Governor, he took note of all the accomplished projects in Ika North East and those yet to be completed. Hon. Iweriebor also stated that he appreciates the government of Delta State on their goodness to the people of Ika North East while concluding that he hopes the Royal Majesty, Obi Osedume I, will do well as to extend the benefits of his rulership not just to the people of Igbodo alone but to Ika North East and well meaning Nigerians. The occasion was agog with merriments, dancing and echos of joy from a unified community. Also in attendance is the National President of National Association of Ika Students NAIS Comrade Ehiwario Jerry who said that no doubt that the Ika Culture has been marked and he has no fear that their children�s children will not lack knowledge of Ika cultural heritage as he went on to say that Ika Students can now browse on a website which was formulated to portray Ika culture. He further said that he was very happy indeed for the great occasion and wished Igbodo people above all things oneness of heart to carry on with their new obi, Obi Ikechukwu Nkeobikwu Osedume I.