1 week Ago By OKECHUKWU ONUEGBU
In the late 90s, Anambra state welcomed the civilian administration of Olusegun Obasanjo with a fratricidal war that tore through two closely knitted communities that once lived like they were in a Paradise. Welcome to Aguleri Umuleri where a dispute over a piece of land escalated to a full-blown conflict that left to mass murder. OKECHUKWU ONUEGBU, in this special report, looks at the genesis of the episode and how the failure of previous governments to implement the recommendations of the panel’s report set up on the crisis is preparing another stage for a re-boil of the cauldron.
The brand new democratic administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo was greeted with restiveness in the South-east state of Anambra in 1999 following a communal clash that shook entire state to its foundation. It was an age-long, inherited crisis that kept occuring from time to time; so, when one thought that the ancient war between the two neighbouring communities of Aguleri and Umueri (Umuleri) in Anambra-east local government area of Anambra state had ended several years back, its ghost have continued to haunt the two communities due to reasons that ordinarily could have been nipped in the bud if the right things were done. Although the last time it happened was between 1999/2000 with its catastrophic consequences, there are ominous indications that fresh moves are in the brewing to open the old wounds and prepare the theatre of war that claimed many lives especially in the two communities.
The latest reason for a possible resurgence may not be far-fetched as available facts have shown that government’s refusal to implement the white paper report on the crisis might be a contributory factor to the looming war between the two communities, except something is done urgently. Ancient bond The two agrarian communities are like two siblings from the same parents due to many reasons. For instance, they share a common border, intermarry and relate with one another.
Indigenes of both communities could even take a stroll to each other’s compound to fetch firewood or live charcoal due to the close ties and proximity. That was how close they were until the crisis rendered them asunder Historically, Aguleri and Umueri claim to be descendants of Eri, the son of the Biblical Gad who happened to be among the 12 sons of Jacob as recorded in the Holy Scripture. Eri or Nri (as pronounced depending on Igbo dialect) is also one of the legends in Igbo society believed to be their ancestor.
How rift over land separated them According to historical facts, Aguleri and Umueri were engulfed in series of war over ownership of a land in Otuocha which is the current headquarters of Anambra-east local government area and previously served as a divisional headquarters of the Anambra Divisional Council between 1963–1966. It lies within the bank of Omambala River, a tributary of River Niger and from where the name of Anambra state was derived. History also has it that due to its uniqueness, Otuocha was one of the areas used as a port by the European merchants and missionaries in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The land measuring about 92 metres inland was said to have been given out to the Royal Niger Company (RNC) on September 7, 1891 by King Idigo 1, then traditional ruler of Aguleri. According Dr. Nwachukwu Obiakor, Head, Department of History and International Studies, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, in his scholarly work entitled, ‘History, Land and Conflict in Nigeria: The Aguleri-Umuleri Experience 1933-1999′, he disclosed that several leases were entered into between the two communities and different European groups over portions of Otuocha land.
According to him, some of the beneficiaries of the European groups included the Church Missionary Society (CMS) whose interest in 1920 was to erect a church building, John Holt Group in 1916 and Compagne Francaise de l’Afrique Occidentale (CFAO) in 1931. He said when problems, however, arose over how to share the proceeds from the land, the two communities embarked on legal tussle. For instance, a speech attributed to one Eze R.
A. Idigo of blessed memory showed that Umuleri first sued Aguleri in 1920 because they were expelled from Omambala beach that year but a clearer picture of the legal battles was actually instituted sometimes in 1933 by Umuleri. Justice W.
H. Hurley ruled over the case which was initiated by Umuleri on the grounds that they wanted rents which Aguleri people were also collecting. “Perhaps, they (Umuleri) had not realised the value of lease to commercial firms before they granted it to RNC in 1898.
The contention between Aguleri and Umuleri over the exclusive ownership of Otuocha where both communities inhabit took them through series of litigations and fratricidal blood-letting. It does appear that these conflicts date back to the beginning of both communities’ history as it centred on the question of which community first settled there and had prior claim to Otuocha,” Obiakor noted. Umueri leaders were said to have lost the case as the judge ruled that they lost right over it having earlier sold the land to RNC.
But it resulted into a one-day old war as both communities engaged each other in a fight using machetes and other crude weapons, although no life was lost in that particular war. The story was that some indigenes of Umueri allegedly trespassed into the land to build trading stalls thereby infuriating their Aguleri brothers warranting them to launch attacks. In 1935, Aguleri people, on the other hand, sued Umueri but equally lost out on ancestry ground.
Further causes of their misunderstanding The two communities further witnessed another war over the disputed land in 1964. The cause, it was learnt, was due to alleged attempt by the Anambra County Council to change the name of the disputed land from Otuocha to Otuocha-Aguleri. According to Obiakor, “The decision of the Privy Council London on the Otuocha land matter gave Aguleri community the impression that they had won the case and that the disputed territory belonged to them.
It was alleged that one Chief Paul Ndigwe, a member of Eastern Nigeria House of Assembly and Chief Barr R.A Chinwuba, secretary of Aguleri Youths Association (AYA) influenced the Minister for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs of the former Eastern Region, Chief John U Nwodo, to obtain the official gazette (ENLG.138 of 1964) containing the change from Otuocha to Otuocha-Aguleri.
Speaking further, Obiakor said, “The Umuleri community, embittered by the publication, challenged the action of the Honourable minister at the Onitsha High Court in suit No.0/2/65. The Civil War broke out but Umuleri got reprieve when the Colonel Chukwuemeka Ojukwu’s government withdrew the said publication.
While the gazette was in force, both communities were battle ready so much that the slightest provocation was enough for the communities to explode. It was only the appearance of Ada masquerade of Umuleri on December 27, 1964 that triggered off the war of 1964. Aguleri people alleged that the masquerade was on a one-man rampage, destroying the properties of Aguleri people.
In order to curtail the ‘excesses’ of the said masquerade that appeared annually, conflict ensued between the two already-tensed communities. The crisis was fought with improved weaponry from what obtained in the 1933 war. Dane guns, flint-lock guns, cap guns, bows and arrows, machete and cudgels were used in the war that lasted for a few days.
This, again, no doubt, led to the loss of lives and property,” he said. Litigations ensued Other legal battles between the two communities were instituted at the Native Courts, West African Court of Appeal (WACA), the Privy Council in London, Onitsha and Otuocha High courts, Federal Courts of Appeal and Supreme Court in 1984. In 1982, specifically, the five-man panel of Supreme Court headed by Justice Ayo Irikefe ruled that Umueri was the first people to settle at Otuocha as a fallow land in the 19th century, but failed to be granted exclusive ownership of the land.
The Supreme Court also dismissed the judgment of Justice Alfa Belgore of Onitsha High Court which previously granted ownership of the land to Aguleri people for lack of proof to substantiate the fact. Avoidable murder This would later result into another war of September 1995 that was reported to be more severe with records of several loss of lives and property owing to use of more sophisticated weapons. “It was alleged that Chief Basil Orakwue of Ogbu in Umuleri sited his block industry at the Umuanezunu-Aguleri family land at Agu-Akor.
The said land is exactly within the Owakalia Eze Obili, the Agu Akor Royal groove and beach where the family (Umuanezunu) worship the ruling spirit of luck (interview with Ike Manafa). “This matter was still being investigated by the police when another Umuleri man by the name, Ogbuefi Dan Ekwevi, also known as ‘Okwu Oto Ekene Eze’ began to build his petrol station at another portion of the Agu Akor land. On being questioned by the Aguleri people, he claimed to have bought the said portion of land from one Ikeli, who migrated from Aguleri and settled at Umuleri from where he was said to be practising his own profession.
“The said Ikeli claimed to have also bought the land from an undisclosed family in Aguleri. The Aguleri community then issued a ‘stop work’ order, but the order was not obeyed. On further enquiry by one Chief Hon Taiko Nwata, a prominent Aguleri man, to ascertain why the workers at the site flouted the community’s directive on ‘stop work’ order, he was beaten up and later killed.
“This attracted the attention of the people at Ama Umuala, Eziagulu Aguleri who raised alarm and alerted the police. This development drew the ire of the already-provoked Aguleri youths, who, without waiting for the report of the police investigation, took up arms against their Umuleri neighbours. The crisis lasted from September 30 through October 6, 1995, and was only halted through the intervention of the then Military Administrator of the state, Conel Mike Attah, and the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Benin zone, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie,” Obiakor stated.
Consequently, the military government inaugurated a commission of inquiry led by Hon. Justice Moses O Nweje (rtd) as chairman, and Chief B.C Odenigbo and Mr.
SSC Oguagha as members. They were charged with the responsibility of probing the causes of the war. The unimplemented white paper/report The recommendations they made at the end included that the government (both state and federal) should endeavour to reduce to the barest minimum the area of contact and friction between Aguleri and Umuleri.
It also recommended, in addition, the urbanisation of Otuocha already affected by the designation of the Urban Areas Order (1995). Part of the recommendations was also that the boundary between Aguleri and Umuleri should be demarcated with large streaming beacons. Unfortunately, this was even submitted since 1996.
The government managed to make it public in 1997 but failed to implemented it to date. In 1999 when the communities involved could not get justice as recommended by the panel, they went into another violent war, killing many and destroying property. The duel in that lasted for years.
As at today, there is no record about how government at all levels has shown any willingness to implement the panel report for peace to reign completely in the communities involved. That was why sometimes in the month of September, 2024, there was to be another breakdown of law and order in the two communities owing to the resurgence of same old issues. Selfishness traced to misunderstanding All of these infuriated the former caretaker committee chairman, Anambra-east local government area, Hon Ifeanyi Chinweze, who was forced to describe the land dispute as a scam.
According to him, it was more often than not stage-managed by individual land owners from both towns who most times had gone behind the scene to jointly sell off those lands in dispute and share the proceeds among themselves without recourse to the entire communities that laid down their lives during the war. Chinweze, who spoke at Mkpunando and Enugu-Otu communities recently while campaigning for his election as the chairmanship candidate of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) towards the just-concluded Anambra State September 28 poll, recalled that his intervention as the transition committee chairman of the council area helped to prevent what would have resulted into another major blood-bath. The local government boss had in a company of security operatives and officials of the local government area stormed the camps of the warring youths to make peace with them.
There, he expressed his readiness to meet with them after the election. “I am from Umuleri and the incumbent transition committee chairman of Anambra-east local government area. When I said that I am on campaign to Aguleri my people asked if I had enough security operatives around me and I asked, why do I need security to go and see my people? That was how we were able to avert the communal land dispute that would have led to the heavy blood bath in Umuleri and Aguleri Communities,” he stated.
He had engaged in several talks with the leadership of the two communities during which it was resolved that going to war was not the best option, and all arms distributed to the youths should be returned to the local community Vigilante Services in the two towns under the supervision of the two presidents general of the towns union. The stakeholders from both communities were also in support of the peace talks but they were more hungry for government intervention, including the support of non-governmental organisation, religious groups and others towards reorientation of the entire populace. Lessons learnt Speaking in an interview, the former President General, Umuleri, Chief Pius Okonkwo, said that they have learnt many lessons from the series of war that had taken place between them and their brothers in 1933, 1964, 1995 and 1999.
According to Okonkwo, if the government could demarcate the boundary between them in the disputed land as recommended by the panel or convert some part of it from both sides for citing of a developmental project, the crisis would end. “We are not happy; therefore, to that extent not ready for further violence because we are brothers. We do not wish to hand it over to our children.
Many youth, women and children have died in this war. No one will be happy to return home to behold that his houses and other property have been destroyed. We do not want to fight again because you do not know if the person you are shooting is your brother or sister, in- law or cousins.
We have learnt that if you live in a glass house, you do not throw any stones. There is need for more training, public enlightenment campaigns and others to be staged by the NGOs, churches, schools and others to sensitise people to understand that violence is not an option in life. “There was one NGO event I attended in 1995 tagged ‘Alternative to Violence’.
If you attend such a programme, you will start seeing the person you thought to be your enemy as your blood brother or sister. This is needed to curb many conflicts and violence in every society,” he stated..
