Save My Soul: Mgbom Egbani Chieftains and their Politicians are Plotting to Kill Me – Sunday Ngene Okorie

Mr Sunday Ngene Okorie is a schoolteacher from Umunkaigbo in Mgbom Egbani in Mgbom Autonomous Community of Ugwulangwu in Ohaozara LGA, Ebonyi State. He has been tormented for a long time by the controversial chieftains and powerbrokers of the village who are majorly interested in fraudulently acquiring his landed properties. In fact, it has been a long time since they launched a proxy war against the educationist through his younger brother, Mr Okoronkwo Nwaekuma (aka Ayaru). They have been exploiting the uncarefulness of Mr Ayaru to buy off our landed properties craftily, but I, Mr Sunday, have continued to oppose them. As always, the mischievous powerbrokers unjustly declare the ostracisation of anyone that opposes their unholy handiworks. My immediate family and I have been ostracised countless times by the mischievous chieftains and politicians of Mgbom Egbani kingdom. By the word “mischievous”, it implies that a few of the chiefs and politicians are not involved in bastardising the Mgbom Egbani kingdom.

Mr Ayaru is a traveller who visits home once in a while, especially when the powerbrokers have cooked up a stage-managed trouble and needed to use him to score their points. Mr Sunday Ngene Okorie resides in the village from where he attends to his teaching career and also looks after their family properties. His opposition to selling off their landed properties has created a longstanding loggerhead between him and the mischievous politicians and chieftains of Mgbom Egbani Kingdom. Unfortunately, too, it is the chieftains and politicians of the Mgbom Egbani extraction that have continued to patronise my younger brother – Mr Ayaru – in the land sale bazaar. To complete the unconscionable sales and buying of the land, for example, the killing of Ewu Ooyi-ụwhọ, they usually perform that traditional rite elsewhere from our family compound. For example, the killing of Ewu Ooyi-ụwhọ rite was performed at Mr David Ngene Ukeh’s compound. Mr David Ngene Ukeh is in no wise a member of our family.

As if the money generated from the land sales would be rightly utilised, it turns around and ends up in the pockets of the mischievous politicians and chieftains. For example, in one of such land sales, the money raised from the land sale was claimed to have been invested in a tricycle (ke-ke) business in order to be generating money for Mr Ayaru. The other sensible question anyone could ask would be, why is it that a tricycle should be bought and operated in the village while the owner lives in a town in another state far away from Ebonyi? Who oversees the tricycle business, how does Ayaru follow up with the routine benefits, and to whom are the remittances presented? As funny as that sounds, the tricycle has long been scrapped, abandoned and now lying useless behind one of the walls of Mr Nwigwe Nweke, who is a major player in the land sale spree of Mr Ayaru and the travails of Mr Sunday.

The chieftains and politicians of the Mgbom Egbani kingdom would always manufacture problems for a family, using any possible loose-link in the family to set them up. Then, the powerbrokers will cameleously summon the victims through the loose-link in their family to Aja-Mgbom playground, where they would usually nail the victim. They are the judge and the acquitters of the person(s) they want to crucify. In this light, the chieftains and politicians influenced Mr Ayaru to sue Mr Sunday before the powerbrokers of Mgbom Egbani. Ideally, problems of landed properties are usually settled within and amongst people who are familiar enough with the properties of other families in a village. But because the leadership structure of Umunkaigbo is not working, every worthless issue from them gets escalated to the Mgbom Egbani General Assembly, where the mischievous politicians and their accompanying chieftains poli-trick to nail a victim. This is the case of Mr Sunday Ngene Okorie. I was summoned at the Aja-Mgbom playground over a landed matter between me and my brother, Ayaru. Of course, Mr Sunday was dissatisfied with the decision of the powerbrokers and thus rejected the outcome.

On 20th June 2022, Mr Obinna Chinyere returned from Port Harcourt to lead a group of boys to attack Mr Sunday Ngene Okorie at Nwoye Akpameka where the schoolteacher operates a petit business to support his meagre income from his teaching work. Among the mob led by Obinna Chinyere that attacked Mr Sunday Ngene Okorie were Okoronkwo Nwaji (aka Odoyemi), Francis Eze Nwanjoku (aka Boyi Eze), Sunday Eze Nwachukwuakpi (younger brother of Pastor Chukwuebuka Anthony), Okoro Omabe (aka WAEC), Sunday Okorie Chukwu (aka Bulldozer), Nwanneka Okereke Okoro, etc. This group of men came prepared to maim Mr Sunday Ngene Okorie, who has been suffering from an accident he had that affected his legs and has since been finding it difficult to walk properly. The mob went to the man’s shop at Nwoye Akpameka in a bus with registration number Ebonyi B7R-653-XA. Mr Sunday Eze Nwachukwuakpi was the driver of that bus.

The present trouble concerns a mob who came to my shop to enforce their vilifying judgement at Aja-Mgbom playground. The mob claimed that I have no right to reject their victimising decision on the landed problem that they manufactured by the Mgbom Egbani chieftains and powerbrokers between him and his younger brother – Ayaru. The question now becomes, why not go to his compound in Mgbom Egbani instead of going to attack him at his business site in a different place entirely? The mob forced Mr Sunday Ngene Okorie out of his shop and looted his goods. Crying helplessly, Mr Sunday called his son, Mr Okorie Emmanuel Ngene, to alert him of the attack. Before Mr Emmanuel could get to the father’s shop, the boys have completed their attack and bundled the man into the bus driven by Mr Sunday Eze Nwachukwuakpi to an unknown destination. “I later found myself in the house of one of the chiefs of Mgbom Egbani”. While on the way, I could see the boys mercilessly popping up my bottles of beer and enjoying themselves with my biscuits. When I requested for the inventory, they drove me away of Aja-Mgbom. So, I left crying because of my predicament as an accident victim. On the following day, 21st June 2022, I managed with my condition and went to the Police Station at the Obiozara, Ohaozara LGA Ebonyi State and reported the matter to the police. The police came for an arrest and arrested one person – Mr Okoronkwo Nwaji (aka Odoyemi). On the following morning, it was surprising to see how promptly the political class of Mgbom Egbani rushed from Abakaliki to the police station to secure the release of the mob member – Mr Okoronkwo Nwaji (aka Odoyemi). Among the persons that came for his bail at the police station were the present Coordinator of Ohaozara East – Hon. Okereke Okorie Eze (aka Ok-black), Hon. Ozoemena Njoku (former SA to Governor on Solid Minerals), and Hon. Chikezie Igu (former Board Member of Border Peace and Internal Security Ebonyi State – the present APC aspirant for the Ohaozara East Representative of State House of Assembly).

It is worthy to mention here that these set of boys, Mr Okoronkwo Nwaji (aka Odoyemi), Sunday Eze Nwachukwuakpi, Boyi Eze, Okoro Omabe (aka WAEC), Nwanneka Okereke Okoro, Obinna Chinyere are recurring decimals in criminalities committed in Mgbom Egbani. Another worrying fact is the prompt response of the Mgbom Egbani politicians whenever they are arrested for a crime just as in this case. Could it imply that the Mgbom Egbani politicians usually use them as tools to cause problems and disrupt public peace and then promise them a prompt response if they get into trouble or are arrested by the police?

After the arrest and bailing of Mr Okoronkwo Nwaji (aka Odoyemi), my family and I were ostracised on 23rd June 2022, which is being observed as I write. In other words, I have been banned from exchanging greetings with neighbours, visiting neighbours, buying from or selling to neighbours from the Mgbom Egbani. Recall that in the case of Okorie Anoh’s family, Mr Moses Aja Nwigwe and his gang ostracised the Anoh’s for reporting a kidnapping matter to the police. Now, let it be on the print that in Mgbom Egbani, you are not allowed to report any matter to the police; otherwise, you face the wrath of the powerbrokers. This is a complete afront and trampling on fundamental human rights and the Nigerian constitutions. My family and I were ostracised by the chieftains and politicians of Mgbom Egbani because I reported a case of looting, manhandling and destructions of my articles of trade to the police. There was a social media publication against me that I, Mr Sunday Ngene Okorie, am a thief. These were rather used as an alibi to authenticate the reason for ostracising my family and me; these are obviously false as I have never stolen anything from anyone neither am I involved in politics.

However, after the bail from the police, the police advised that the parties should report to them about the settlement. We accepted and went for settlement on 6th July 2022 at the Aja-Mgbom venue, and during the session, people were videoing what was going on. Having observed the recording spree going on, my son joined others in capturing his own evidence of the settlement process of the day. Surprisingly, my son was isolated and commanded to stop the video coverage. When he protested on why he should be singled out to stop the recording while others continue with their coverage of the proceeding, they turned around and said that they will be going back to report to the police that my son and I refused to cooperate with the villagers to settle the matter. In attendance at the Aja-Mgbom playground on that 6th July 2022 were the village Chairman (Moses Aja Nwigwe), Mr Agwu Nwachukwu Onwosi, Uneke Nwigwe, Ifeanyichukwu Igu, Okereke Okorafor (aka Udoka), Coordinator of Ohaozara East – Hon. Okereke Okorie Eze (aka Ok-black), and Hon. Ozoemena Njoku (SA to Governor on Solid Minerals).

As they dismissed the settlement proceeding, the chieftains and politicians including Mr Aja Nwigwe connived with Mr David Ngene Ukeh to allegedly write a petition against me to Obiozara Police Station that we should be arrested whenever we come to report the outcome of the settlement. I was not given a copy of the petition. On getting to the Obiozara, my family and I were arrested by the police on 8th July 2022; five (5) of us. The five of us were later bailed.

My life and that of my family are in danger in the hands of Mgbom Egbani chieftains and politicians, including the mobs they use for their evil assignments, as these people are plotting to kill my family and me. I am appealing to the general public to come to my rescue. My goods are no more, and my business has been crippled, which will make life difficult for my family and me. This is happening at Mgbom Egbani in Ohaozara LGA of Ebonyi State.