The Amaekpu Community in Ohafia Local Government Area of Abia State has indefinitely suspended its upcoming Iri Ji (New Yam Festival) due to the disappearance of one of its citizens, Mr. Kalu Uche, a 70-year-old traditionalist and prominent member of the populous Amaekpu Ohafia community.
According to the villagers, a notorious local native doctor, an indigene of Amaekpu, Eke Anaga Ibe, popularly known as “Lawyer” and in his early 40s, invited the missing Kalu Uche to accompany him to the burial ceremony of his in-law at Amangwu Ohafia. It was alleged that the suspect took him to a remote drinking joint in Amangwu, entertained him, and asked him to wait while he went to retrieve the remains from the mortuary. That was the last time Kalu Uche was seen.
It was also gathered that the clothes Kalu Uche wore to the burial ceremony were found on a lonely track road in Amangwu and taken to his family for identification.
However, some of the suspects, including Ukwa Anaga (“Galaxy”) and Ume Kalu Ukwa, have been apprehended and handed over to the Nigerian police for investigation. Unfortunately, the prime suspect, Eke Anaga Ibe, escaped arrest, and his whereabouts are unknown. Interestingly, all the suspects and the victim hail from the same Nde Uyo Compound of Amaekpu.
The development, after a series of consultations at the famous Okpocha Square of Amaekpu Ohafia, has put the traditional Iri Ji festival on hold due to Kalu Uche’s status in the community as a leading traditionalist and a member of the Agu Mba Grade. All efforts over the past week to trace the missing person have proved abortive, heightening tensions between the Amaekpu and Amangwu communities.
