Ezeship tussle: Court upholds rotatory agreement of Amanator Okporo royal stool
The Imo State High Court, sitting in Orlu, has in its recent judgement on the Ezeship status of Amanator Okporo Autonomous Community in Orlu LGA, confirmed that evidence presented before it showed that the community has a constitutional process for the emergence of its monarch.
Delivering its judgement in suit number HOR/35/2025, the court declared that the rotatory agreement, as stipulated in the constitution of the community, must be respected by all parties involved in order to maintain peace and order.
The court also restrained the state government from recognising anybody who failed to follow the constitutional provisions regarding who should emerge as the chief custodian of the traditional stool of the community.
Reacting to the judgement, the president-generals of the three communities that make up the autonomous community, in their separate speeches, maintained that the judgment has brought to an end the skirmishes over the royal stool and restored normalcy in the area. They advised those involved in the royal squabble to abide by the ruling.
Emeka Oguaja, one of the president-generals of the town union leadership, told journalists that stakeholders of the community, leveraging the recent judgment, have issued a communiqué aimed at ensuring lasting peace in the area.
He stated that the communiqué was duly signed by the Central Okporo Traditional Chief Priest, the three president-generals, Ofor holders, and the youth wing.
Oguaja explained that the crisis began after the demise of their monarch, Eze Ibenye Ugbala, as the family of the late Eze sought to retain the royal stool against the laid-down procedure, which supports the rotatory method.
According to the president-general, this development was considered unusual by the community and capable of causing disaffection among the three villages.
Oguaja added that part of the communiqué advised the family members of the late monarch to desist from further court actions and to accept Umuebele village, whose turn it is to produce the next traditional ruler, for the sake of peace.
Another town union leader, John Egeolu, revealed that the late monarch ascended the throne in 1973 in a keenly contested election. He added that the man who served as his palace secretary for twelve years is still alive and has testified that there was nothing like hereditary kingship.
Egeolu noted that for the past four years the community had been under siege owing to insecurity, which he said had claimed many lives and properties.
The town union leader asserted that the autonomous community would not want to witness another crisis, as it is yet to recover from the last one, which forced many to flee from the community.
He maintained that the major reason for the rotation of the royal stool is to give every village that makes up the autonomous community a sense of belonging, and advised that the process should be respected.
Ezeship tussle: Court upholds rotatory agreement of Amanator Okporo royal stool
