Concerned citizens of Obodoakpu Agbogugu autonomous community, in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu state has appealed to Enugu State Government to constitute an interim town Union leadership in the community and stop the April 12, 2025 election scheduled by the ministry of Chieftaincy and rural development , saying that the community has not completed the amendment of its constitution, which is a vital document for election of officers.
The group appealed that an interim leadership should be in place while the Constitutional amendment committee does it jobs and get the amendment of the 2004 constitution completed before an election would be held and for them to have a workable document for their election.
The community also appealed to the State’s .ministry of Chieftaincy affairs not to interfere in their election, alleging that the President -General, Fidelis Ndubuisi Nwudeigwe wanted to go against the 2004 constitution , which stated four year straight tenure for the town union’s executives.
Addressing newsmen in Enugu on Friday, the aggrieved community members who spoke through Ude Hyacinth , former chairman, Umuanebe village, Obodoakpu alleged that the ministry of Chieftaincy affairs and rural development gave the President- General’s group date ( April 12,2025) for the town Union’s election without informing the community.
He appealed that the ministry should allow peace to reign and allow people to choose their leader..
Adding his voice, another community leader, Odionyenfe Okoye, said they were supposed to hold their election in January,2025 and were told that the ministry were coming to help them in the constitution amendment. They held reconciliatory meeting and they all signed and agreed that the President -General will be given one year more to lead them, surprisingly , they planned for election, went behind and collected date from the ministry.
He alleged that the ministry had earlier told them that there was no free date in April for town Union election, that all dates had been taken, only for the President -General and his group to tell them that they were given April 12 ,2025 by the ministry of Chieftaincy and rural development to conduct their election. They said “the date is not acceptable”.
Okoye added that the Commissioner for Chieftaincy and rural development, Hon. Okey Ogbodo told that he had signed the amended constitution and that they should go to court .
A youth leader in the community, Prince Ibechukwu Akpatu said the tenure of the executives has expired and that they used the 2004 Constitution which says one tenure of four years and no second tenure.
According to him, they went the ministry of Chieftaincy affairs and rural development to inform the ministry. The ministry told them that they were using 2023 constitution and the community said “no they don’t know that constitution that what they know is the 2004 constitution and what they came with was the draft of the constitution undergoing a review.
Another community member, Fidelis Mudigwe alleged that the outgoing President-General. tampered with the draft . He said he wanted to correct a mistake there, only for him to amend some parts of the draft to suit his land of second tenure which their 2004 constitution does not allow. The community he said, insisted that the 2004 construction should be the working document for their election and not the draft of the amendment which the President General had changed to suit himself ..
Mudigwe disclosed that they took the matter to the ministry and the Commissioner ,Okey Ogbodo asked them to go to court.
On his part, the Counsel to the Concerned citizens of Obodoakpu autonomous community of the Daniel Akpa said the aggrieved members of the community went to court and asked the court determine whether constitution was okay or not
Another Legal practitioner, Osmond Okoye said the concerned citizens had taken the matter to court with suit number HAW/7/2025. They sued the past executive and the electoral committee had been served a copy of the suit.
He said for the constitution to be a legal document, the Governor will gazette it and the reviewed constitution must be signed by the Review Committee ‘s chairman and secretary and not the Commissioner and the traditional ruler, as was done to Obodoakpu autonomous community.He said they wrote a letter to the Commissioner and copied the Governor ,expressing their grievances.
When contacted, the commissioner for Chieftaincy and rural development, Hon. Okey Ogbodo said all necessary steps were taken to ensure a smooth election in the community. He said the ministry does not conduct election, rather it observed elections. Ogbodo added that amended constitution was read to the General Assembly and they adopted it as a working document,which he approved and stamped. He said verification of the constitution was
The Commissioner also disclosed that the election had been scheduled to take place on April 12,2025 and interested people should contest
He added that the present President -General wants to come back for second tenure and the ministry cannot stop him. ” In every election there must be an aggrieved party. Election had been scheduled to hold on April 12,2025. People should come out and contest. We don’t have the right to ask the president- General not to contest. Second tenure is in vogue. It’s left for the people to vote for him or not to vote for him.
“We have done what we should do. In that community, the traditional rural and the President General are from the same component. We discouraged that. We advocated rotational system and proper distribution of offices to components . If a traditional rural is from one component of the community, the President -General should be from the other side. We cannot stop anyone who wants to contest from contesting . It’s left for the community to vote and choose their leaders,” Ogbodo said.
Author: Maureen Ikpeama