The face-off between Rector of Federal Polytechnic, Prof. Godwin Onu, and the host community, Okoh, seems headed for wider dimension with intervention of Ezira, Rector’s hometown, in defence of its own. Correspondent, CHIBUZOR NWACHUKWU, reports
Prof. Onu (l) and Igwe Laz Ekweme
The face-off between the Rector of Federal Polytechnic Okoh in Orumba North Local Government Area, Anambra State, Prof Godwin Onu, and the community leaders led by Igwe Laz Ekwueme got messier last week when irate youths went on rampage and unleashed mayhem in some parts of the town.
The youth, who dared the policemen and soldiers posted to the community, stormed the palace of the traditional ruler and burnt two vehicles in the process.
TheNiche gathered that Ekwueme, a professor of Music, narrowly escaped being lynched in the process. Other members of the household also reportedly took flight on sighting the angry youths.
Trouble started when Igwe Ekwueme announced a ban on masquerades during the community’s Afia Olu annual festival on ground that the already tensed atmosphere in the community, occasioned by the face-off with the polytechnic management, may be exploited by some elements to cause breakdown of law and order.
In apparent bid to ensure enforcement of the order, Ekwueme sought deployment of policemen and soldiers to the town. The action, it was learnt, however, did not go down well with the youths.
Thus, on the festival day, the youths called the bluff of the traditional ruler and went on with their masquerades along the major streets of Okoh town.
Tempers rose when the youths allegedly defied the soldiers, resulting in one of the soldiers firing few warning shots. One of the bullets, it was said, hit a masquerade.
The youths had to beat a retreat, only to return heavily armed, and unleashed terror on the town.
The young man carrying the said masquerade, who was said to have died of bullet wound, was later discovered to have been taken to an undisclosed hospital where he is currently responding to treatment.
The youths, who stormed Ekwueme’s palace were alleged to have planned to assault him; but when he could not be found, his home was destroyed. Two vehicles were also burnt.
The youths under the aegis of Okoh Progressive Union (OPU) Youth Wing, led by Hillary Ezeokafor, accused Ekwueme of being behind the crisis in the town and called for his dethronement and removal from the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) where he is the chairman.
Ezeokafor, however, denied the involvement of the youths in the mayhem, contending that they were not part of the Okoh masquerade society.
The youths also took on the president-general of the town union, Cyprian Nwammuo, accusing him of being an enemy of progress in the community and called for his arrest by the police along with four others.
At the moment, chairman of Orumba North Local Government Council, Okey Enekwe, has inaugurated a committee of enquiry led by former president-general of the community, Paul Nwafor, and five other members as well as the representatives of the police and State Security Service (SSS).
Okoh Town Union has, however, dismissed the committee, insisting that its members are not people with credibility and integrity. The town’s leaders alleged that the committee is made up of contractors executing projects awarded to them by the Rector who they accused of sponsoring the youth
According to the Legal Adviser of the Town Union, Okonkwo Okom, “that committee is a kangaroo body made up of Prof. Godwin Onu’s contractors in the Polytechnic. We are calling on Governor Willie Obiano to set up a judicial panel of enquiry into the matter.
“Okoh, as it stands, has been raped by the hoodlums who are being remotely sponsored by the Rector of the Polytechnic. As I speak with you, everybody is into hiding for the fear of dear lives. I cannot tell you where the traditional ruler is, for security reasons, and going by what happened at the palace, you do not expect him to be around there for now.”
But the monarch was spotted at the Government House, Awka, shortly after a meeting where the Anambra Traditional Rulers Council urged Obiano to set up a panel of enquiry to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the crisis.
Ekwueme later told reporters in Awka that when the outlaws evidently overwhelmed the police, soldiers were brought in. One of the youths, he said, was injured when they dared the soldiers and attacked his palace. From then, hell was let loose as the youths went about the community destroying properties of persons they suspected to be on his side.
On his part, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Polytechnic, Obini Onuchukwu, noted that the allegation against the Rector was a ploy to ridicule him.
Onu, he said, is a man of peace and visionary leader who would not want to be distracted anymore by the community, stressing that linking him with the shooting of the masquerade is uncalled for.
The mayhem in Okoh community is seen by many as the climax of the one-month face-off between the community leadership and the Rector over his reappointment.
In opposing Onu’s reappointment, Ekwueme and Nwammuo had argued that his continued stay would not augur well for the development of the institution, alleging that he had been rejected by all stakeholders in the school, the entire staff, students and the host community.
“He is notorious for engaging in excessive use of police might to enforce his unpopular actions, and we hereby humbly notify the government that Oko Community will not be prepared to allow the return of Prof. Godwin Onu unless he is prepared to shoot all of us to clear his way,” the duo stated.
Onuchukwu, however, described the allegation against the Rector as false and politically-motivated.
The dimensions of the crisis seem to be widening, with the Rector’s kinsmen from Ezira, a neighbouring town, weighing in and threatening reprisals against Oko, in the event of anything untoward happening to their brother.
According the president-general of Ezira, Edih Godwin, “we have not seen what our brother has done wrong. We have made all attempts to see the traditional ruler of Oko community and he keeps telling us that he is busy. We, the people of Ezira autonomous community, are from Anambra State, and this state is not for some people alone. We are not going to take kindly to those campaigns of calumny against our brother.”