In Kano, tussle for Igbo leadership gets messy

Posted by admin Headlines, Kano, South-East, State News Saturday, July 2nd, 2011

The Kano High Court in Gaya, a town some 70 kilometres South of Kano city, was full of life on Wednesday, June 16. The court was hosting a cream of Igbo personalities, including associates and aides and counsel of two Kano-crowned, Igbo monarchs, Nze John Chiejina Nnaji and Chief Boniface Ibekwe, both locked in a legal dispute.
Prior to this date, members of Kano community, mostly of Igbo extraction, had been gripped with anxiety over the litigation that underscored a deeply divided Igbo community in the state. They monitored every step of the case. They talked about it- at home, in their shops and whispered about it in their jokes even as they waited for fresh developments.

Indeed, the hype about the case was naturally resounding but it soared the more after one of the parties; Nze John Chiejina Nnaji secured an order barring his rival, Chief Boniface Ibekwe from further making claims to the traditional title of Eze Nd’Igbo Kano.

The interim injunction of May 31, restrained Ibekwe, his agent, servant or his privies from parading himself or from expropriating to himself the title of the Eze Nd’Igbo Kano or the traditional head/ruler of the Igbo Community in Kano State or from performing /doing or acting as such, pending the determination of the motion on notice.

The implications of the order were far reaching. Being an ex parte injunction, it caught the other camp unprepared and left them dashing in confusion. Besides, the weight of the order automatically disrupted a number of issues pertaining to the Igbo people in the state. Among them was the ongoing inventory of the victims of the recent post election violence in the state, which was partly being handled by the office of the Eze Nd’Igbo.

Also said to be affected, pending the vacation or otherwise of the order is some high level political engagements with the new government of Kano State, headed by Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, which is seemingly at ease with one of the parties affected by the order.

But what are the grievances of the plaintiffs, many have asked. Nze Nnaji and his faction of the Igbo Community Association are upset at the continued claim of Chief Boniface Ibekwe as the traditional ruler of the Igbo in the state and therefore, want the Kano High Court to declare that he, Nze John Chiejina Nnaji, is the rightful and authentic traditional head of the Igbo community in Kano, having been appointed and installed as such on October 30, 2010, by the Igbo Community Association, Kano and the South East Council of Traditional Rulers.

The plaintiffs, which included the Onye Ndu Nd’Igbo and 10 others also pray for a declaration that the cabinet of the Eze referred to as Eze- in -Council inherited from the late Eze Nd’Igbo, O. T. Nnadi is and remains the lawful Eze-in-Council in the state, with the powers to deliberate on, nominate, screen, accept and present the traditional head/ruler-elect of the Igbo Community in the state, as the Council did in the case of Nze John Chiejina Nnaji on August 15, 2009.

In their statement of claims, dated April 5, they held that Nze Nnaji has been the traditional head of the Igbo Community in the state while the Igbo Community Association (ICA) is the umbrella association of all Igbo in Kano. They claimed that the title of Onye Ndu Nd’Igbo Kano was formerly called Eze Nd’Igbo Kano and was changed to its current nomenclature by the South East Council of Traditional Rulers at a joint meeting between the council of traditional rulers of the South Eastern states and those in the northern part of Nigeria.
Following the death of the last occupant of the throne, the late Eze O .T. Nnadi, who died on November 22, 2008 and his burial on February 27, 2009, they claimed that the cabinet met and resolved to appoint a new Eze, adding that that appointment took place one year after his. Further stating their claims, they held that Nze Nnaji was eventually installed as the substantive Onye Ndu Ndigbo Kano on October 30, 2010 and was presented with a certificate by the Ezes.

They claimed that the new Onye Ndu Ndigbo was led and introduced to the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero on November 19, 2010 by the Chairman of South East Chairman of Traditional Rulers, and the entourage was well received and blessed by the Emir of Kano.

He, in addition, made copious reference to a letter sent to the Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero by the South Eastern Council of Traditional Rulers, which confirmed Nze Nnaji as Onye Ndu Nd’Igbo of Kano. The letter was dated November 16, 2009. The letter, which was signed by HRH Cletus Ilomuanya, sets out the following prohibitions on the office of the Onye Ndu Nd’Igbo Kano. Among these prohibitions, he stated, were that whoever holds the position of the Onye Ndu Nd’Igbo must not be addressed as the His Royal Majesty, His Royal Highness”, or His Royal Majesty or any other such titles.
Barrister Nelson asked the court to note the prohibitions against the backdrop of the letter as it relates to the registration certificate of the Igbo Community Organization and the constitution of the same body as a cultural and traditional organization.

He argued that if these prohibitions are contained in the very letter that appointed the plaintiff as the Onye Ndu Nd’Igbo Kano, then he could not function as the leader of a traditional organization, which the office he is contesting duly represents.

Barrister Nelson further argued that the said office of Onye Ndu Nd’Igbo Kano is not in the constitution of the Igbo Community Association, Kano, as of today. He explained that plaintiffs admitted that the title or the office, which they claim to be exercising is not in the constitution of the ICA but that the processes are in top gear to amend the ICA constitution to reflect the office and the title.

He, therefore, held that it is not possible to start a roof from the top, adding that in terms of sequence, an office must first be created by the constitution before somebody sets out to fill it. On the basis of this, he argued that as it stands today, the office of the Onye Ndu Nd’Igbo Kano is a stranger to the constitution of the ICA, hence the plaintiff has no right under the ICA Constitution, which the court should protect with an injunctive order.

Nelson acknowledged that the ICA constitution was made by the Igbo of Kano and not the Igbo of elsewhere and, therefore, the chairman of the South East Council of Traditional Rulers cannot come to Kano State and annul or appoint a constitution or an office which his office has no hand in its creation and which does not recognize his office.

Meanwhile, a Kano High Court sitting in Gaya, Thursday, vacated an interlocutory order restraining Chief Boniface Ibekwe from parading himself as the Eze Ndigbo of Kano. Justice Amina Adamu, in refusing the application for injunction, held among other points, that the office of Onye Ndu Ndu Ndigbo, which the plaintiff is asserting is not in the constitution of the Igbo Community Association, Kano. She, therefore, adjourned the case to July 6, 2011 for mention.

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