Written By David Anih (Odogwu Na Nkanu)
One year ago, I remember speaking on this danger before it became obvious in a meeting of Enugu East stakeholders held at the Press Center Enugu.
I mentioned the Isi-Uzo and Ohu na Amadu factor which may end up turning Enugu State into Ezza/ Ezillo war. Today, Prof Barth Nnaji has stood on the ground of Labour Party to water his evil seed of Odenigbo and Amadi killing game.
Firstly, he hijacked the structure of the Labour Party in the Enugu East zone and handed it over to Odenigbo where he made it clear that it was do or die. He forced everyone who is Odenigbo to vote Labour Party no matter who is in there, and what is his reason? He wants to wipe out the remaining Oruku but he needs to have his men in power the way he did when he started the crisis.
𝙊𝙧𝙪𝙠𝙪: Oruku was a peaceful town that contributed to sponsoring Prof. Barth Nnaji through school and made him successful but unfortunately one day people woke up to see their brothers and childhood friend as enemies. Prof Nnaji supplied weapons used to destroy Oruku, and finally, a layout was made to divide Umuode and Oruku and till today the war is still making it impossible for everyone in the town to return home in peace.
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙊𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙊𝙝𝙪 𝙣𝙖 𝘼𝙢𝙖𝙙u:
This unnecessary division of brothers is a product of the slave trade which took place several decades ago and was later abolished. It is an unfortunate incident that took place in the olden days when stronger people could kidnap and sell another and the buyer takes you as a slave. if you are familiar with history, you will see that Bishop Ajai Crowder who was a slave met the daughter of Alafin of Oyo who was also a slave and got married to her in Freetown (imagine Alafin the king who has slaves also has his the daughter a slave somewhere) almost everyone was a victim of the slave trade because as our people bought others, that was how they sold others and anyone could be a victim back then.
But now that the slave trade has been abolished and no victim is still alive, why are the living and younger generations segregating themselves? Who started it? It’s only an evil child that will destroy his land for nothing. Why do we still have a general union of Umuodenigbo in Nkanu land when we already have a general forum for Nkanu? Why is it hard to talk about? Why will Umuodenigbo have a meeting and conclude to vote against Nkanu during the election? Why do we want to water the seed of division and hatred planted by Barth Nnaji who only cries at night and children die in the morning?
It’s no longer news that some people want to use divide-and-rule tactics to take over power from Ndi Nkanu and unfortunately, the Odenigbos are the ones to be used against their people.
In my home town (Nkerefi), we have the same Umunna and no segregation, which made us live in peace.
The people of Ishiogbo Nara, Ishigwe Ugbawka, and many more have held meetings and agreed to fight Nkanu starting from voting against them in this election and I ask: who is using you against your own people? The people of Ishiogbo produced two Deputy Governors but have no bridge they can ply to get to their community and today you have an opportunity to get your town developed you are being deceived by Barth Nnaji who has destroyed his hometown: A man who want every town in Nkanu land to be like Oruku and Umuode. Another question is, since the crisis and so-called liberation of Umuode people in Oruku, what progress have they made? Which town in Nkanu have they progressed up to? What he succeeded in doing is just killing innocent youths and destroying the peaceful land of Oruku. The same issue is also faced in Nomeh Unateze and must be stopped now!
My final question: Is Odenigbo now different from Nkanu? Why force people to vote for other candidates other than Odenigbo and outsiders?
Prof. Bath Nnaji must be stopped now and Nkanu people must unite now, we must avoid being used and come back to be one.
Nkanu people are one, enmity and crisis will destroy us and our land, and we must prevent that now.
David Anih (Odogwu Na Nkanu) writes from Enugu.