They threatened that if things don’t change soon, the residents of the villages will have no other option but to initiate certain measures that will lead to his removal.
The people of Adakam Amumara autonomous community in Ezinihitte Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State have staged a protest against their traditional ruler, Eze O.B. Nwokocha, over his alleged highhandedness in the community.
The aggrieved members of the villages that make up the community warned Eze Nwokocha to change his style of leadership in the community regarding security, protection of village roads and infrastructure, management of community resources, and respect for the rule of law, amongst others.
They threatened that if things don’t change soon, the residents of the villages will have no other option but to initiate certain measures that will lead to his removal as their traditional ruler or breakaway from the Adakam autonomy community.
The aggrieved residents of three villages namely Umuokpo, Amumaraokhia and Okpanku through their representatives in a statement made available to SaharaReporters on Wednesday, lamented Eze Nwokocha’s alleged illegal activities and highhandedness.
According to them, since Eze Nwokocha opened the floodgate for the invasion of the community’s rivers for illegal sand dredging in Amumaraokahia, Okpanku and Umuokpo, the entire environment of the community has been exposed to danger and their roads have been damaged without repairs or maintenance, leaving them completely 'unmotorable'.
They lamented that the dredging autocratically being carried out by the monarch had destroyed their livelihoods and worsened their hardships.
They noted that “the crisis caused in Adakam by Eze Nwokocha's self-serving interest in dredging business has disrupted peace, unity and love and has put development in Adakam on a standstill.”
They also decried that “Eze Nwokocha does not want to allow things to be done right to benefit the community".
"He has frustrated efforts to reach agreements with the investors, emboldened them to treat the villages with contempt and receives weekly returns from them, depriving the host villages and the community of their entitlements as he is not accountable for the huge revenues from dredging,” the statement said.
Further listing the alleged atrocities of the monarch in the community, the aggrieved villagers said that “Eze Nwokocha has turned himself into a lord over the community and usurped the community’s authority to illegally fire Professor N. C. Nwankwo from his elected position as President General (PG) of Adakam Autonomous Community Town Union (AACTU)".
The statement further read, “We reject this tyranny and stand firmly with our PG in his legal challenge of Eze Nwokocha's illegal and unacceptable action.
“In 2021, truckloads of armed security operatives invaded the Adakam community, beat up our youths at Amumaraokahia and Umuokpo rivers, arrested and took some of them away. To date, Eze Nwokocha has not explained who called in the armed security or why this act of desecration was perpetrated upon our people.
“Eze Nwokocha resorts to threats and intimidation when villagers complain about the bad state of their roads. He issued a memo calling Amumaraokahia people “hoodlums” for closing their village road to stop the operations of tipper drivers until attention is paid to their cries for the repair of the damaged road.
“He has attempted to frame his “enemies” up with false criminal allegations with a view to using security agencies to apprehend and put them out of circulation.
“Eze Nwokocha does not heed the counsel of our eminent community members at home and in the Diaspora. He relies on the support of members of his family or village and a few allies from other villages who know of his mismanagement of community resources.”
They lamented that Eze Nwokocha’s tyrannic leadership in the community has unleashed a lot of consequences on the people including that "many eminent sons and daughters of Adakam who had been very enthusiastic in contributing their talents and resources toward the development of the community have been forced to withdraw their support in protest".
“Ongoing community development projects have been halted. The Annual Adakam Day celebration which started last year under the leadership of Prof. Nwankwo will certainly not hold this year owing to the crisis.
“Eze Nwokocha has lost the loyalty of the majority of Adakam people as traditional ruler and there are moves towards autonomy from Adakam by the aggrieved villages,” they said.
The protesters demanded that Eze Nwokocha should demonstrate a sincere commitment to peace, unity and progress of the community and restrict himself to his role as a traditional ruler, which gives the right and power as a custodian of customs and tradition and promoter of peace, adding that he must desist from interfering in the smooth running of the affairs of the Adakam Development Union.
Also, the community said, “Eze Nwokocha should demonstrate that he is genuinely a listening and law-respecting traditional ruler who is committed to unity, harmonious existence, peace and progress. He should immediately reverse his illegal decision purporting to have removed Prof. Cyril Nwankwo as the President General of Adakam, and should stop exercising powers he doesn't have.
“Eze Nwokocha should honour his words and henceforth, desist from interference in dredging affairs in Adakam; ensure that the investors sign the Community Development Agreement and that revenues from dredging are henceforth transparently and accountably managed and used for the development and general good of the host communities and Adakam.”
The aggrieved residents noted that only honest and selfless leadership that is committed to the good of the community and listens to wise counsel and is capable of inspiring love, peace, unity and patriotism can reverse the impending implosion in Adakam, warning that “a word is enough for the wise!!!”