The Eze Aro-designate, Prince Eberechukwu Oji of Arochukwu royal family has debunked notions that he is trying to arm-twist Prince Goddy Idei, who was crowned Eze Aro in October and take over the throne.
Eberechukwu Oji, whose announced that he would be officially crowned Eze Aro on December 26, 2023, was speaking at a Press Conference on Tuesday, when he made clarifications regarding his emergence during a rigorous screening by the Okennachi Royal Clan, from where the king emerges.
Oji, in his opening speech, narrated to gathered press men the process that led to his victory, where he clarified that all parties involved agreed to the process, and underwent it, until the winner was announced. It was only after he was declared winner after a very transparent process of screening that the only Prince who went through the final process with him, Prince Goddy Idei ‘stormed out’, rejecting the outcome.
Hear Eberechukwu Oji in his own words “Our cultures are very clear in Kingship selection. It’s not hereditary. We do not present anyone who has a case of mental illness, robbery, or has ever been to prison. A screening exercise is done until the committee identifies someone worthy of the throne.
“You identify a member of the royal family, a blue blood that satisfies all requirements such that when you present such a person to Aro Kingdom, they will not find any character flaw, with which they will disqualify such a person or make such a person non acceptable for the throne. That’s our culture, our tradition. If you go by that culture, the Okwara Ezi is my uncle, Mazi Oji Kanu Oji, he is the eldest, he is 91. Naturally the throne should have gone to him. After him is my father, Mazi Joshua Kanu Oji.
Oji also explained why younger princes were preferred over the elders, as the tradition initially required “In the intervening period after Mazi Vincent passed, we the young princes in the family were the first to approach these our elders and said to them, the custom and tradition is not in question. The custom of Aro is clear, the Okwara Ezi becomes the Eze Aro, there is no dispute about that.
“However, following the trend across the world, and in Nigeria, our aspiration as young people who see what is going on, the culture is not serving us. We asked them that if its possible for them, that they should, in Aro expression, gbui anyi onu mmini na aka. That is, they should spit into our hands (bless us to play their roles), and we will play the role of Eze Aro on their behalf while they are still alive.
“They will be guiding us, provide fatherly advice, so that we will present to Aro, a young, vibrant Eze Aro, that will match the likes of what we see in Warri with the Olu of Warri, or in Ife with the Ooni, what they see around the world where there is still monarchy like Saudi Arabia where the youth have taken over.
“So we were the first to start approaching our elders and appealing to them to reconsider modifying our culture to create room for the young people. It was all internal family discussions. With the passage of time, many prominent Aro sons and daughters caught on on that idea and also began to speak to these our fathers, encouraging them to allow the younger generation to come into rulership while they are still alive.
“After much persuasion, they agreed. The problem then came up, who among the young ones do we select. That created a lot of confusion and that was how we ended up with multiple young people now being nominated to the Okennachi Committee. The Committee set some criteria which include that they don’t want anyone above 70, etc. They also said each of the three legs of the ruling family should present one nominee. That’s how we young people emerged. But in my own family, two of us were thrown up, my uncle Okey Kanu Oji and myself. At the initial process, one of the steps was to unify my family, and my uncle graciously allowed me to go ahead and stepped down. So each of the three ruling families had a candidate.
“Obioha, whose father was the immediate past Eze Aro did not come for the screening so we ended up with just myself and Goddy Kanu Idei. Efforts were made by the Okennachi to see if one person would step down for the other but that didn’t work. So we both submitted ourselves to the screening exercise. Goddy Idei presented to the committee what he will do as Eze Aro, and explained why he thinks he is most qualified to be the Eze Aro. I also came and made my case. After we made our cases and left, the committee consulted among themselves and they put it to vote. Five of them selected me, while two selected him.
“When they called us back, it was then announced that I have emerged as the new Eze Aro. Now, it is important to note that up till this time, everything was peaceful and cordial. Goddy and I held hands together, so there was absolutely no issue. But once the result was announced, he stormed out of the room, rejected the result, and then, we all know that he then got Eze Ibom Isii to crown him.
“We weren’t perturbed and went to the Ndi Oke Nnachi family comprising of Asi Eko Oke Nnachi, Kanu Okoro Oke Nnachi, and Oji Okoro Oke Nnachi who performed the traditional rites and I was presented as the Eze Aro designate.
“The Okennachi maintained disciplined, because, before the screening started, I was asked that if its not me and it was him, would I support, I was unequivocal and said yes. He was asked, he said it wil be difficult for him but said yes. So, on the strength of our commitment, the committee went ahead to do the screening”, he revealed.
Recall that on October 19th, Prince Eberechukwu Oji had been selected by the Okennachi Clan, but Prince Godwin Kanu Idei had been quickly crowned the very next day by Eze Ibom Isii.
Eze Ibom Isii was subsequently suspended by the Abia State Government for ‘flagrantly flouting the provisions of the code of conduct for Traditional Rulers in Abia State, and the Traditional Rulers and Autonomous Communities Law: via abuse of office, and established cases of flagrant disregard of official directives of Government’.
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