Enugu Community Seeks Autonomy To End Discrimination

The traditional Prime Minister of Edeaniagu Kingdom in Ishi Ozalla community, Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State, Chief Peter Agu, has called on Gov Peter Mbah to grant his people an autonomy to end their alleged protracted marginalisation by other villages of Ishi Ozalla.

Chief Agu spoke with newsmen in Enugu while lamenting the alleged ordeals of his people over an alleged settler/indigeneship dichotomy.

According to him, “We have already gone through many processes in search of peace. But what will bring an everlasting peace to the community of Ishi Ozalla is to grant Edeaniagu an autonomous community status. If this is created, we assure the world that Edeaniagu will be peaceful. We know our capability. If the autonomy is granted, within 12 months, we give you whatever structure that is needed to be a community.”

He alleged that his kingdom is being discriminated against by other villages of the community in the guise that Edeaniagu natives are settlers, hence not allowed to enjoy the rights and privileges as natives of the larger Ishi Ozalla community. He said such notion was false and a creation of some interests to subjugate truth.

According to him, it was the ancestors of Edeaniagu that were the original inhabitants of Ishi Ozalla when other villages came to settle, and “they lived peacefully until this recent discrimination”.

Chief Agu said, “There are some acts that you can notice if you carefully check. For instance, some of their okada riders don’t carry our people as a result of discrimination. Before this discrimination, everybody teams up to do farm work, but right now, if my people call them for such, they won’t agree. This is modern slavery.”

He appealed to Gov Peter Mbah to use his good offices to find a lasting solution to the discrimination against his people. In his words, “I appeal to Gov Mbah to give us this autonomous community. That will enable us to mind our community, and see how we can develop it very fast. The people of Edeaniagu are the backbone of this Ishi Ozalla. Since this problem started, the road leading to our area has been abandoned to dilapidate. Ishi Ozalla used to bubble more than any other community in Ozalla as a whole.

THE WHISTLER reports that the climax of the division between Ezeaniagu village and other villages within Ishi Ozalla erupted when an Edeaniagu native emerged the traditional ruler-elect of the community, and the refusal of some interests to recognise him, leading to the ostracisation of Edeaniagu village by the larger Ishi Ozalla Community.