The Effium Elders Council of Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State has condemned the bullying and unwarranted intimidation by the Committee Chairman, Amb. Frank Ogbuewu of their representatives in the new peace committee in Effium.
The Council members include, the Chairman, Chief Isaac Ekpe and HRH Ezeogo Sunday Aliba (Ogaba-Idu IV), the Ezeogo-Elect, Effium Autonomous Community; Elder Idenyi Onwe and Pastor Dominic Ogbueke both of Uffiacha Clan; Pastor Ujoke Peter and Elder Emmanuel Ede of the Osata Clan; Chief Ugo Godwin and Mr. Ogwo Anthony of the Inyafuo Clan. Others are Chief Bernard Ilor and Elder Igwe Alfred of the Wogwu Clan; Elder Peter Oga and Mr. Felix Agbeje both of the Watuma Clan; Chief Iduma Simon and Prince Ogbaji Joseph of the Wogbalie Clan; Elder Peter Agbeze and Chief Peter Mgbeleke of the Ogbajere Clan.
Rising from a meeting following the non-signing of a peace accord between Effium and Ezza people, the Effium Elders Council said they would no longer accept the actions of the Committee Chairman who had shown bias in the conduct of the committee.
In a letter to the Ebonyi State Governor, Rt. Hon. Bldr. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, 22nd May, 2024, the Council rejected the new peace accord saying “the contents portend danger for the continued survival/identity of Effium race. We consider this new draft of the Peace Accord as not only an afterthought but an aberration in the history of dispute resolution the world over.”
They listed the gray areas of the new peace accord as follows:
- That Effium people stand by the Peace Accord joyfully signed by both parties without let or hindrance on the 14th day of March 2024 as the contents are clearly emanated from the recommendations of the Bishop Okoro-led Peace Committee.
- That the Chairman of the new peace committee should recuse himself from the committee. We say this because being married to an Ezza woman, he is automatically an interested party. This is our strong fear.
- That our three sons who desperately signed the document did not do that on behalf of Effium people but for their own pecuniary interest and we have strong reservations for their actions. A popular African adage says that “if you sell your brother even the buyer will not trust you.”
The Council commended the governor for the efforts at ensuring peace in Effium, while appealing for an understanding on the matter.
“Once again, we wish to commend and enjoin you not to see the actions of our sons on the 21st day of May 2024 as an attempt to disparage your commitment to the restoration of total peace in Effium as they have mandate from us as the custodian of Effium land to act in that manner,” the letter reads.
EFFIUM INDEGINOUS STANDS
It is on record that on 22nd May, 2024, Effium Council of Elders in a letter addressed to the Executive governor of Ebonyi State, rejected the Ambassador Frank Ogbuewu led Effium and Ezza Effium Peace Implementation Committee and her actions on the following grounds.
That:
1. The chairman of the committee Ambassador Frank Ogbuewu is an interested party, as he is married to an Ezza woman, and would definitely want to please his inlaws at the cost of the Effiumites.
2. That his attempt to coerce the Effiumites 22st May, 2024 to sign a purported peace accord drafted from a doctored white paper from Bishop Michael N. Okoro’s Committee report, is unacceptable.
3. The representatives of Effiumites and Ezza Effium had already on 14th March, 2024 signed a Peace accord with the Attorney general Dr Ben Uruchi Odoh’s led Effium and Ezza Effium Implementation Committee. And on that document, the Effium people stand.
Furthermore, the Effium Council of Elders stated and maintained that;
1. Effium land is not jointly owned by Effium and Ezza people. This is because there is no land in Nigeria or else where that is jointly owned by two or more ethnic groups.
2. The traditional stool of Effium land is the exclusive reserve of the Effium aborigines (Effiumites). Consequently, the Ezzas cannot be granted autonomous community in Effium. The government of Anambra state in 1976 had already issued an order to that effect, maintaining that the Ezzas can only demand for autonomous community in their ancestral homes in Ezza North and South L.G.As.
The Effium Council of Elders noted that “there is nowhere in Nigeria has settlers/stranger elements been granted autonomous community.”