It is deeply unfortunate — indeed, profoundly regrettable — that the name of Umuariaga has been dragged into public controversy through a patently ill-informed media interview. Mr. Okereke, it would have been far more honourable to decline that interview than to appear before the public and, through palpable ignorance, misrepresent the collective position and painstaking efforts of our community.
In your interview, you presented yourself as a “law maker,” thereby creating the clear impression that you are part of the currently constituted authority of Umuariaga — which you are not. This raises fundamental questions that demand honest answers.
Are you a member of the Eze Ejirika’s Council of Chiefs? Are you a village head? Are you the Chairman of the Men’s Forum? Do you presently hold any political mandate or recognised executive office on behalf of Umuariaga? Are you a member of the revered Nde Nkwoukwu Court — the ancient custodians of our customs, norms, and traditional jurisprudence?
To the best of public knowledge, you occupy none of these positions. On what constitutional, traditional, or political authority then do you claim to speak as a law maker for Umuariaga?
Do you fully appreciate the legal and political implications of the statements you made? Are you aware that, should that interview gain wider circulation, it has the potential to place the entire community in an unfavourable light and undermine our legitimate advocacy before the very institutions we are engaging on this critical land matter?
There are dignified and responsible ways to seek public relevance or political visibility. What ought not to happen — under any circumstances — is the pursuit of personal recognition at the expense of the corporate image, historical integrity, and collective struggle of one’s own community.
Ordinarily, there would have been no reason to join issues with you. However, once Umuariaga — our beloved community — was publicly mentioned and its position distorted, a response became not only necessary but absolutely imperative.
Let it be clearly and unambiguously stated: the fact that you emerged, under questionable and structurally defective circumstances, as Vice President General some years ago did not confer upon you the status of lawmaker, cultural custodian, or authoritative spokesperson of Umuariaga. Such institutions are not products of self-acclamation or political convenience. They derive legitimacy from established communal structures, customary authority, and collective consent — none of which you currently possess.
Before granting such a sensitive interview on a matter of this magnitude, prudence demanded that you first consult the appropriate stakeholders — the President General, the Youth Leader, the Women Leader, the Chairman of the Men’s Forum, the Eze-in-Council, the Chairman of the Village Heads Council of Chiefs, the Commissioner for Lands of Abia State, and all other relevant stakeholders of Umuariaga.
Had you done so, you would have been properly briefed that there has indeed been a genuine and widely acknowledged concern regarding moves by the Abia State Government to acquire our only viable flat land for housing development — a concern that inspired the entirely legitimate and peaceful protest of our women at the Government House.
To dismiss that peaceful protest as a mere arrangement is not only dismissive and politically reckless — it is a grave insult to the democratic expression of a people defending their ancestral heritage and economic future. Our women did not take to the streets lightly. They marched because they are afraid. They marched because they love this land. And they deserve respect, not ridicule from one of their own.
Your utterances unfortunately betray not statesmanship, but a troubling deficit of information, responsibility, and communal loyalty. What was expected of you was restraint, consultation, and responsible representation — not media grandstanding that puts everything our community has worked for at risk.
As a concerned stakeholder, I must say without equivocation that I feel deeply disappointed and betrayed — that one of our own, driven perhaps by ambition, self-glorification, or the quest for cheap political patronage, would publicly ridicule Umuariaga and risk sabotaging our collective effort to resist the appropriation of our ancestral land.
Umuariaga deserves better.
Our collective struggle must not be trivialised.
Our ancestral heritage must not be sacrificed on the altar of personal ambition.
I am concerned. I am worried. And I speak not for myself alone, but for every son and daughter of Umuariaga who watches with sadness as this episode unfolds.
— Bright Chimezie Sunday is a Concerned Stakeholder of Umuariaga Community.
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