The Kingship crises that rocked Igbo community in Akwa Ibom State for over 29 years had finally been laid to rest, our correspondent learnt.
This is even as the community sets aside November 15 to celebrate the eventual return of peace and unity in the State at the Ibom Halls grounds, which eluded them for almost three decades.
Addressing a press conference in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital at the Union secretariat, the President of Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, Akwa Ibom State chapter, Hon Kaceey Chidiadi said the event with the theme: Peace and Progress; A Panacea for Progress and Development” was designed to show that peace brings about progress and development in the society.
He regretted that Ohaneze had spent over Four Hundred Million Naira(N400M) on litigations during the crises saying that the money could have been used for the development of the union if there was peace.
Chidiadi said the first line of duty of the present executive was to set up a reconciliatory committee headed by the Vice chairman, Chief Ogbonna Ukachukwu who met with all the aggrieved factions and went further to approach the court to withdraw all the pending cases (10) for out of court settlement.
His words, “So the first thing we did was to ask for the leave of the courts to give us the privilege to go and settle it based on the fact that it was a community matter. which even if at all we allowed it to be settled in the courts, they can only give judgments, but they will not still give peace. So at the wisdom of the Chief Judge of the state and some other judges, they asked us to go and look into it and report back to them.
“A document was put down, which was read, so all the parties went through the document and were satisfied with it.Then they signed the documents and that was what we have seen today.”
Giving an insight on the bone of contention, the president said some persons acclaimed to be the Eze Igbo (king of the Igbos) in the state had loyalists in different camps who were fanning embers of disunity among the Igbo community. He said the crises had led to loss of lives of prominent sons of Igbos in the state.
Ukachukwu disclosed that with wider consultations of all the factions, it was unanimously agreed and formally endorsed that Eze Cyril Umeakuka (Eze CYC) is Eze Ndigbo Gburugburu in Akwa Ibom and Eze Barth Okpala, the Eze Ndigbo in Uyo, while that of Ikot Ekpene is on hold following the death of Igwe Obed Mbonu.
He said the peace accord has been documented and would be made public during the Igbo Unity Celebration even as he disclosed that those who lost their lives during the crises would be honoured posthumously on that day.
“I can categorically say, there is nothing like factions as long as Igbos are concerned in Akwa Ibom. Everybody has queued into the leadership they met.” He added
On the achievement of his leadership, he said, “My administration has also ensured we have a befitting Secretariat, a working bank account for the body and also planning to secure our permanent Secretariat for the Ohanaeze Ndigbo in the state. Before we had only 11 chapters, now we have 27 chapters courtesy of this leadership and we have to commission the remaining four chapters to complete 31 chapters across the 31 local governments in the state.”
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Reconciliatory Committee and Vice Chairman of the union, Chief Ogbonna Ukachukwu admitted that it was not an easy task to bring all the factions to a dialogue table saying it required a high level of patience and tolerance to achieve that.
Ukachukwu who identified communication gap as one of the elements that worsened the crisis said the committee was able to address the issue by creating a neutral ground.
On his part, the Treasurer, Chief Chukwuma Daniel while describing Akwa Ibom as a peaceful state said the Igbos have contributed tremendously in the development of the state even as he thanked the governor, Pastor Umo Eno for producing a conducive environment for businesses to thrive and recognizing them in his administration.
Daniel dismissed the insinuations that Igbos are divided saying that lasting peace has returned and unbroken bond is in place.
