Igwe Ibegbunam called on Governor Willie Obiano to stop further recognition of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) led by Chief Ngozi Anyakora and Barrister Raphael Asha Nnabuife as their continued stay in office has caused much agony and distrust for the community that are anxious to elect their substantive town union leaders.
Igwe Ibegbunam however warned that should the relevant authorities ignore the appeals from the traditional institution and the community leaders, the state government should not hold him accountable for any breakdown of law and order in the area.
The Nkpor Monarch’s alarm arose from the continued recognition and elongation of the tenure of a caretaker committee, under the umbrella of Interim Management Committee, IMC of Nkpor Development Union, (NDU). The committee has been presiding over the affairs of the community in the last 8 years.
He said the continued recognition of the IMC and elongation of its tenure amounted to an outright denial of the community her inalienable right to determine and elect their substantive town union leaders, since according to him, the continued existence of the Chief Ngozi Anyakora and Barrister Raphael Asha Nnabuife-led IMC has created mistrust and disaffection in the area, resulting to bottled anger that is capable of causing breakdown of law and order and the repeat of the ugly past in Nkpor.
In a press statement issued to newsmen yesterday in his Palace, Igwe Ibegbunam noted that as the Chief Security Officer of Nkpor, he is advising the office of the Special Adviser on Town union and Chieftaincy Matters to stop recognizing the IMC which has so far ran an eight-year dictatorship and arbitrary administration, despite a vote-of-no confidence passed against her on December 20, 2014 at Nkpor General Assembly meeting observed by the Igwe-in-council.
He emphasized that the community had already concluded arrangements for the conduct of a town union election that will usher in a democratically elected executive members of NDU tentatively scheduled to hold either on July 4 and July 11, this year, adding that it is now left for the state government to come and monitor the exercise because "the people have spoken and have paid N100,000 for its monitoring".
Igwe Ibegbunam was flanked by some prominent indigenes of Nkpor, including two past presidents of Nkpor Development Union (NDU), Chief Godwin Ojiakor and Barrister Frank Molokwu; Barristers S. O. Chukkwukelu and Uche Darlington Okeke; Prince Augustine Udo and Chris Udeze during the press briefing.
Igwe Ibegbunam contended that owing to disaffection among members of the IMC and failure to address the four-point term of reference given to them by the state government when they were set up in February, 2008, the zealous and patriotic members of the IMC have long deserted, leaving only Anyakora and Nnabuife.
He said the duo of Anyakora and Nnabuife have continued to run the affairs of the community dictatorially to their self interest without consultations and refusing to give financial account of monies that had accrued to the area all these years, particularly the huge sums of money that have accrued to the Nkpor youth movement, which gave rise to the pending Suit No. HID/186/2012 against Nnabuife as the Director Finance in the IMC.
He said having paid their prescribed N100,000 to Anambra state government as election fees and having discontinued the suits in court regarding to the election, as directed by the office of the Special Adviser on Town Union and Chieftaincy Matters, nothing else is left for the conduct of the election of Nkpor town union because it is common saying that "justice delayed is justice denied".
He said they would resist with the last drop of their blood, any attempt by the IMC to continue to perpetuate itself in office without recourse to the tenets of democracy, adding, "our patience is running out fast".
However, in a telephone chat, Nnabuife declined comments on the matter, adding that it is left for the state government to determine any line of action to be taken on this issue.
Also in a telephone chat, the Commissioner for Local government, Chief Greg Okonkwo referred newsmen to either Idemili North local government authority or the Special Adviser to the Governor on political matters.
But the situation in Nkpor is dicey that if the state government did not handle it well, crisis may erupt any moment as youths are gearing in that direction but are held back by the elders and the Monarch.