As the tussle over who becomes the Eze Aro (King of Arochukwu people both at home and in the Diaspora) assumes a warring dimension, the Abia State government has denied the allegation that it is supporting Eberechukwu Oji, an aspirant to the throne.
Oji and Godwin Kanu Idei have been engaged in fierce battle over who succeeds the late Eze Vincent Okoro, the King of Dynasty who died in 2021, even as the battle has created tension in the hitherto peaceful kingdom.
It will be recalled that the Aros in Arochukwu LGA of Abia State are the only community in Africa that have their indigenes living in virtually all communities and towns in many clans in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.
However, as the battle rages on, one of the contestants, Godwin Kanu Idei, was last Friday arrested by the police in Umuahia on the allegation that he has been parading himself as the Eze Aro.
But the Abia State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Prince Uzor Nwachukwu, in Umuahia dismissed the insinuation that Governor Alex Otti has a hand in his arrest or has preferred aspirant in the Eze Aro enthronement brawl.
Nwachukwu, in making the clarification while addressing journalists the press in Government House Umuahia in company of the Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu, and other members of the Executive Council, said the allegation that Otti is interested in any of the aspirants is false.
“His Excellency, the Governor of Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti does not have any interest in who emerges as Eze Aro. Governor Allex Otti has no interest in who becomes the Eze Aro, he has no interest in the process. He is only trying to ensure that the people obey the laws they instituted by themselves,” he said after the Executive Council meeting chaired by Governor Alex Otti.”
According to him, the key interest of the governor is to ensure that peace and tranquility reign in all the communities in Abia State, adding “What the government is trying to do is to ensure peaceful and harmonious existence in every community according to the laid down rules and laws.
“These rules and the procedures of who emerges as Eze Aro, they were enacted by the people, not the government and they submitted it as part of their laws that these are the laws that govern our community.” He added that the government is not trying to mandate them to do something different from their own rules.
