.......Support Governor Ogbonna Nwifuru, avowed decision to enthrone justice, equity and fairness in the State
Amuda in Diaspora members association, has debunked the claim in a recent press briefing by Ezza Ezekuna consultative assembly, that Ezza clan granted Amuda Autonomy in Ezza land, in Ezza North LGA of Ebonyi state. The group said that is not only false but a misrepresention of facts. Amuda (Idzem) Community Home and in the Diaspora, ably represented by Mr. Hyginus Elom, President General Amuda in Diaspora,Elem Joseph, secretary, and Comrade Ogba Uchenna Chapter Chairman of the same association in a joint press conference issued the press release to inform the world of the true state of affairs.
Below is the Excerpts of the press release.
RE: PRESS BRIEFING BY EZZA EZEKUNA CONSULTATIVE ASSEMBLY CLAMING EZZA'S GRANTED AMUDA AUTONOMY IN EZZALAND (EZZA NORTH LGA)
It is pertinent to react to the press briefing by the Ezza Ezekuna Consultative Assembly held on 23rd March, 2024 vis-Ã -vis the Effium-Ezza Effium crisis, the outcome of the Peace Panel set up by His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Ebonyi State, Rt. Hon. (Bldr.) Ogbonna Nwifuru, on his quest for justice, equity and fairness as the panacea for an enduring peace in Effium. There is no question about the sincerity of the Governor’s quest given the high integrity, the spiritual and moral stature of members of the Peace Panel.
2. In the briefing under reference, the Assembly fallaciously and maliciously drew an analogy between Ezza-Effium settlers and the people of Amuda (Idzem) in Ezza North L.G.A. We had considered the analogy an overstatement from an exuberant section of the Ezza Ezekuna and so had expected the Ezzas to dissociate themselves from such outrageous claim. Having heard nothing from the Ezzas so far, we are compelled to react to the arrant analogy through this press release. This press release offers us an opportunity to debunk the claim that the Ezza granted Amuda (Idzem) autonomy in their land (Ezza North L.G.A). It also gives us yet another opportunity to relay to the whole world the gross injustice, intimidation, suppression and marginalization which have been the lots of Amuda (Idzem) Community (Izekwe-Igbo Kingdom) in their own native land which we have, all these years, borne with equanimity.
3. Perhaps, recourse to history would be imperative to lay bare certain irreducible facts, albeit, as briefly as possible:
i. Oral history and tradition holds that the Orring ethno-linguistic groups comprising Amuda (Idzem), Ntezi (Eteji), Effium (Uffiom), Okpoto (Lame) and, Okpomoro (Okpoolo) were the original inhabitants of the Abakaliki axis of the present Ebonyi State. Virtually all of them moved around from one location to the other due to one factor or another until they settled in their present locations. The Ezzas and other ethnic groups only migrated to join them.
ii. The position of oral history and tradition is reinforced by historical research and investigations. A.E. Cook (1933:9-10) in an intelligence report states thus:
Before the advent of the Ezzas, the sons of Orri (Orring), each the head of a clan comprising at that time three or more families, lived and farmed without interruption, scattered over a territory some 20 miles wide and 25 miles long. At that period there was none to dispute with them the ownership of land which, so far as they were aware, was limitless. With the coming of the Ezzas and Izzis from the South, however, this pleasant and uncrown (sic) state of things was doomed to disappear forever.
More recent findings support the oral history and tradition. Hence, P.J Ezeh (2004:70-21 highlights that the Orring is “a group that is found, but always in relatively smaller populations and nearly sandwiched between larger groups in Benue, Ebonyi and Cross River States of Nigeria.” Regardless of the fact that the Orring are a minority in the States they are found, they are in most cases the original inhabitants of those territories. So, according to G.I. Jones (Aleke 2003:7), in the Abakaliki area or division of Ebonyi State, “the Orri (Orring) and Mbebe (ethnic groups) are the non-Igbo original inhabitants....”
Digging further to confirm between the Orring and the Igbo who first settled in the Abakaliki area, Ezeh and Linda Nkamigbo applied independently historical linguistics (lexicostratigraphy), but could not come to a common conclusion. While the former (Ezeh: 2007) used 100 lexical items, the latter (Nkamigbo: 2012) used 1000 lexical items with the research result confirming that the Orring were the first settlers in the area. With the use of larger lexical items, Nkamigbo’s study was more exhaustive and therefore more credible.
iii. Without fear of contradiction, the issue of Northern and Southern Protectorates and their amalgamation to form our present day Nigeria, and the division of Nigeria into three regions of the Northern, Western and Eastern regions; the continued political and administrative divisions and sub-divisions of Nigeria culminating in the present structure of thirty-six States, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the 774 local government areas, etc., are all recent developments. Apart from the Mid-Western Region created in 1963 in the First Republic, the colonial master and the military were responsible for the division and re-division of Nigeria that resulted in the present structure.
iv. The point being made is that, like some ancient African societies, Amuda (Izekwe-Igbo Kingdom) not only existed and settled in its present location in the pre-colonial era, but predated Nigeria as a country. In effect, Izekwe-Igbo Kingdom also predated the various administrative and political divisions into which it had and has fallen into over the years, including Ezza North L.G.A. which was created only yesterday.
4. So it is not only out of place, but an abomination for any Ezza man, no matter how highly placed, connected or rich, to say that Amuda migrated into Ezza land, or that the Ezza, by any act, gracious or sympathetic, offered Amuda land or space to settle. Rather, it was Amuda (Idzem) that offered especially, Umuezeoka and Umuezokaoha clans, land to settle. Ironically, this magnanimous act of our forebears has turned to be the most untoward act that they did to their own generations. For the Ezzas, in their gross ingratitude, gradually, subtly and in some cases resorted to violence to dominate and take over our land. So, today, Amuda, once a pioneer community, in the then Ezzikwo Division and earlier colonial administrative institutions, with then famous leaders like Iguta Egbe, Oda Oko, Okonwe Idogwu, His Highness, Eze Onwe Eleshi, etc., is now ironically almost oblivious in this part of Nigeria and Ebonyi State in particular. What is more, our Ezza neighbours carried away in the euphoria of their numerical strength, usually make overstatements; outrageous and untenable claims, encroach into our lands and treat us as second class citizens.
5. With the tradition in which stakeholders virtually decide or influence the system of rewards in a political community, your guess is as good as mine vis-Ã -vis Amuda in Ezza North L.G.A. Though, we are a minority, we are big enough and even bigger than some other communities that are full-fledged political wards. Of course, we were until 1998 when, through their manipulations and political gerrymandering, we were curiously merged with Amawula with whom we have neither cultural affinity nor geographical contiguity, to form a ward.
Recently, the Ezza Traditional Rulers Council demanded twelve (12) goats from our royal father as penalty for celebrating our New Yam Festival before the Ezzas, claiming that it was an abomination for Amuda to have done so in Ezza land. It is pertinent to state that from time immemorial, our New Yam Festival (Etukparr) has nothing to do with the Ezza New Yam Festival (Okaku) as our own lunar calendar is different from theirs as an entirely different ethnic group. The Council was set to enforce the penalty on our royal father and the Community before few of their royal fathers who stood on the path of truth distanced themselves from it.
On Wednesday, 4th March, 2011, during the administration of Chief Martin Elechi, Ezza youths under the umbrella of Izzo Boys gunned down four (4) of our promising young men without any provocation and on the guise of politics. Hitherto (Wednesday, 5th August, 2009), they had launched an unprovoked attack during which they embarked on looting, and destruction of property worth several millions of naira, and mauling the unsuspecting Amuda people. The health facility in the community was among property severely touched during the terrorist attack.
During the tenure of Barrister Ikeuwa Omebe as the Chairman of Ezza North Local Government Council, all the communities with whom Ebonyi State Community and Social Development Agency (CSDA) collaborated to carry out World Bank-assisted project(s) were assisted with One Million Naira (N1,000,000.00) each for counterpart-funding the project(s) to the total exclusion of Amuda (Idzem). The litany can go on and on.
6. On the issue of granting autonomy, it is categorical that no fellow ethnic group makes another an autonomous community. It is rather an administrative or political authority through constitutional and extra-constitutional instruments that makes a community autonomous and by extension a political ward. This was the case when under the Col. John Atom Kpera administration of the Old Anambra State, Amuda became an autonomous community vide the 1976 Local Government Reforms. So the claim that the Ezza gave Amuda autonomy in Ezza North is a FALLACY of the century.
7. Questions crying for answers are: Is it a crime to be a minority when God in His infinite wisdom created the majority and the minority? Does our location in Ezza North L.G.A., a mere creation for administrative and political governance, undermine our status as the aborigines of the area? And by extension, does the creation of the local government council reduce Amuda people to migrants or strangers in their own native land? Does the naming of the local government “Ezza North” make the Ezzas the sole owners? If so, why does the Ngwo (Enugu Ngwos) not claim the sole ownership of Enugu State to the exclusion of the Nsukka bloc, the Aniri-Oji River and Nkanu blocs? There are countless examples like that with respect to naming of local government councils and States in Nigeria. And, are Amuda people not supposed to be carried along as co-owners, co-shareholders, so to say, of the local government with certain institutional convention consisting in alternating the chairmanship or being given the slot of vice chairmanship of the council as the second ethnic group and the original settlers of the area, in the interest of justice, fairness and equity?
8. The truth, however, is that nobody can rewrite the history of Amuda as some Ezza ethnic chauvinists and exuberants often attempt to. The historical realities or facts cannot be altered. To doctor the relationship between the Ezza and the Amuda (Idzem) is an attempt in futility, for facts remain facts no matter how they are twisted. If the whole world is deceived, the creator cannot be deceived. Ultimately, the truth shall prevail over fallacies/lies; and good shall triumph over evil; and light shall overtake darkness. It will only take time.
9. Before ending this press release, we specifically draw the attention of the world to the divinely inspired formulations of social and political philosophers on natural law which informed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHRs) adopted by the United Nations in 1948. The basic rights provided for in this document are universally acclaimed and accepted. Consequently, they have been enshrined in the constitutions of countries all over the world, including the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), Chapter 4. The African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (the Banjul Declaration) is in line with the UDHRs. By the two declarations, all peoples of the world, including minorities, are the apple of God’s eye and are to enjoy these rights classified into two (a) civil and political rights; and (b) economic, social and cultural rights. We highlight particularly the right to life, right to property, right to participate in cultural life and freedom from discrimination. In its concern for giving the world’s minorities and the indigenous peoples the sense of belonging and promote their welfare, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities in 1992.
10. Finally, we urge the entire Ezza nation not to allow themselves to be drawn into pursuit of the whims and caprices of the misguided and mischief makers among them. They should look before they leap. What everybody should have at the back of his or her mind is that the consequences of stirring unnecessary, unreasonable conflicts are too high for anybody to bargain for.
11. Furthermore, we appeal to the governor for all – i.e. the governor for the majority and the minority; the strong and the weak; the rich and the poor - His Excellency, Rt. Hon. (Bldr.) Ogbonna Nwifuru, to keep up his avowed decision to enthrone justice, equity and fairness in the State as a sine qua non for peaceful co-existence of the peoples of Ebonyi State which, in turn, is inevitable for genuine development of the State. We specifically call on the Ebonyi State government to critically look into the socio-political dilemma of Amuda (Idzem) people in Ezza North L.G.A. God bless Ebonyi State.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
Long Live Ebonyi State!!
Long Live Ezza North Local Government Area!!!
Long live Amuda (Idzem) Community!!!!
Signatories:
1.) ELOM HYGINUS
PG, ABROAD
MEMBERS
2.) ELEM JOSEPH
SEC., ABROAD
MEMBERS
3.) COMR.OGBA
UCHENNA
CHAPTER CHAIRMAN
for and on behalf of Amuda (Idzem) Community (Home and in the Diaspora)